


Northern Lights Will Lead Us Home

by adelindschade



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Klaroline, Koroline BroTP, More characters to come, Mystery, Reincarnation, border on domestic and brotp, katholine - Freeform, my December project
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 79,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28253907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adelindschade/pseuds/adelindschade
Summary: After the chaos of the cure results in the supposed deaths of newly human Katherine, Original Kol, and Caroline - 25 years later, unbeknownst to the faces of the past, they are revived under new circumstances: human Katherine was given the gift of life - and with it, Kol is reborn, too, and both are under Caroline's vigilant protection.  25 years hidden with the aid of older magic than now runs through Kol's veins.Will Caroline's loyalties come into question when she's indebted?How will a promising young warlock respond when his previous life begins to clash with the only family he's grown to love?and will Katherine ever truly learn to live freely despite how frail her condition?
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Elijah Mikaelson/Katherine Pierce
Comments: 39
Kudos: 79





	1. Bergen

**Author's Note:**

> 1) A plot I have been fixated on since I love these three. Magic can be manipulated however one may like and I think the lack of Fae in the series means I can be as wild as I want in this. The Fae have their own tricks... 
> 
> 2) If you want happy Kalijah... turn around. I hate Elijah and I want him to suffer. And he will suffer. Emotionally, in every possible way. It will be thrown in his face with a hot steaming cup of coffee. I want to ruin his good suit and his hypocrite facade of being an honorable man when he - in eternal words - "ain't shit". Katherine deserves happiness and I think it comes at the cost of Elijah being humbled quite a bit. He and his white knighting can go you know where. 
> 
> 3) I'm considering that Kol might not be the only brother whom I might consider reincarnating/reviving. And no, not Finn. Hmm. 
> 
> 4) Honestly - the whole spiel of Katherine basically being Kol's second mom is such a mood for me because of Klaus's inevitable reaction; and Elijah's, too. It's just a whole whammy. I can't wait to write it. 
> 
> 5) Kol being Caroline's favorite - is cannon in this. Because don't mess with her bb Kol. She raised him. She did good. 
> 
> That's all the spoilers you get so far. 
> 
> 6) P.S Damon and Elena are trash - I'm saying that outright. Do not expect redemption for them. 
> 
> Thanks! Enjoy!

Bergen, Norway.

Large array of floor-to-ceiling windows offered plenty of natural light to gleam through, bestowing the natural grey interior with a warm glow. The interior was minimally furnished as the modern design would recommend but the few articles sprawled throughout the main floor plan were carefully curated with colorful pieces.

Masculine blue matched with natural browns offered an earthy element that starkly contrasted the glistening white blanket that consumed most of the hillside and rooftops the condo overlooked. However, romantic pink was speckled throughout, too, and paired well with vibrant green to offer a glimmer of liveliness the initial builder neglected to grant the concrete box of a structure.

The touch of floral arrangements neatly set on both the elongated coffee table and massive kitchen island suggested a feminine influence resided in such an estate. Perfectly poised, an arrange of art posted on the wall suggested a wider perspective – appreciating subjective color and imaginative landscapes. A worldly traveler, perhaps, as indicated by the mountain of magazines piling atop the side table nestled between a cozy recliner and the pristine, two-cushioned couch that seemed to be situated as mere compliment for the immaculate, white rug underneath.

From under the looming, black railed loft, a figure emerged. The door behind them shut quietly with a dulled click; the lever lock which they were quick to activate resounded much louder.

Unearthing a head visible blonde curls from under her fur-lined hood, she quickly unwove the scarf around her neck and hung her matching hat onto the hooks along the wall. She then shrugged off her heavy down coat and fixed it on the same hooks, discarding her gloves into the pockets so she wouldn’t forget them next time she ventured out.

The clatter of keys atop the smooth slate countertop reverberated throughout the room, accentuated by the towering ceilings that encapsulated the condo’s modern appeal.

She settled her tote bag next to her keys, shuffling deep within its contents to retrieve her desired item: a phone. She wasted no time to scroll through its parameters, bypassing the lock screen, and then immediately reviewing her contacts. Upon finding the person of interest, she pressed the phone to her ear while she prepared herself a cup of coffee.

No sooner than when she began to fill up the kettle with water under the tap, the ringing on the other end came to a stop and substituted with a welcoming voice that enticed a smile from her lips.

“Well, hello there, stranger! It feels like it’s been _ages_ since we talked,” she teased, ending in a chuckle.

Whatever they replied, it conjured a lighthearted eye roll on her end.

“Yes, but weeks feel for like forever,” she defended her stance. “It’s almost holiday break! When are you returning home?”

She was occupying her hands with scooping out coffee beans into the filter, savoring the aroma as she pried the lid off the tin. It was a necessary treat after venturing out into the brisk November chill that consumed the Norwegian cold. Her cheeks were still kissed with the bright rosy hue that, in comparison to her wind bitten nose, seemed demure.

“Are you coming here or going to your mom’s? We haven’t decided yet. We thought you should be the final vote.” She listed. “Oh, I have plenty of space; you’ve seen it!” she rapidly replied. “I was hoping you’d help me decorate the Christmas tree just like old times.”

She gawked. “No! It’s not too early! If anything, it’s perfect! December is just around the corner. That’s plenty of time to get into the spirit!”

Her face contorted into something reminiscent of offense. “No,” she declared haughtily, furrowing her brows as she did. “I have not begun to play my holiday playlist yet! I just got home,” she added matter-of-factly, perking one brow in particular as she reached over to intercept her tablet. “I was going to call you first and _then_ start my evening with Kelly Clarkson!”

“I am not corny! Ah! You are so rude,” she admonished lightly, pulling a mug from the tall cabinetry as she did. Her spun to face the large windows, admiring the scene before her. Glistening treetops and frosted rooftops; windows lit up like lanterns in the face of dimming daylight; cars driving slowly through the old cobblestone streets with caution as ice began to layer.

She looked cozy and petite in her choice of clothing. The unbuttoned burgundy cardigan offered a layer of warmth over a similar shaded deep cut garment which shimmered in the direct sunbeam, suggesting a satin material to contrast the softer cotton touch which concealed three-fourths of her arm. Such a basic ensemble casted a casual elegance that only further accenting her beauty which was framed by a halo of blonde curls that cascaded over her shoulders. Dark, blue jeans hugged her legs and she had yet to kick off her knee-high black boots with white knit stockings peaking over.

“I miss you,” she whined, stomping her foot. “It’s so… quiet… It’s not right without you.” She began to lean forward as she spoke with newfound adamance. “ _Yes_ , I miss you! Why wouldn’t I? Oh, don’t let it get to your head, jerk…” she humored with a shameless smile. She looked down to her toes, almost meek. “How’s school? Are you doing okay?”

“Of course, I knew you’d be doing good,” she assured tenderly. “You’re smart, maybe too smart for your own good,” she added as the kettle began to scream behind her. “I’m proud of you. You’re almost done – _for good_ – _then shoot_ , aww, you grow up too fast. Ah,” she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“I’m not crying!” She objected vehemently though her voice betrayed her, cracking as she spoke in her own weak defense. “Let me be sappy! You left the nest too soon! If you think I’m a mess, imagine your mom!”

She turned her back to the window, encircling the countertop to attend to her coffee preparations.

“Have you visited her yet?” Caroline asked, adjusting her arms into a cross position. She neglected the kettle for a moment, letting it steam. There was a somber note in her voice, pausing as whoever was on the line began to ramble on.

“You know you can’t call her, not out there,” Caroline shook her head out of habit. “You have to _physically_ see her. Are you sure you can’t venture out for the weekend?”

Disappointment washed over her face. “You shouldn’t have to worry about her safety. I promise you. No one is going to find out where she is and I don’t think anyone is really interested in seeking her out. She’s good as dead to the world, just the way she likes it,” Caroline assured soothingly. Her shoulders slagged and she began to nurse her nose, pinching the bridge of it. “If you were to visit, she’d appreciate the company. C’mon, you’re her only son,” she added with a beaming smile.

“Promise me – this weekend, okay? I’ll hold you to it!” She gleamed, clapping her hands excitedly as the other line agreed. “That is, if it’s not going to hinder your studies. I’ll kill you myself if you put that off!” She joked, pointing a metal spoon ominously into the air. “Kay,” she grinned. “Anything else happening that I should know about…?”

“Shush, don’t turn this on me! There is nothing over here to report,” she waved off. “Same old routine. Just planning my Christmas extravaganza and wrap up some gifts – yes, gifts! I don’t care how old you are! You and Katherine are both getting gifts and I don’t want to hear a peep about it! Tradition demands it!”

Caroline opted for the pour over method, slowly easing the waterspout above the triangular funnel which held a generous helping of fine grinds. Underneath, the nearly black liquid flow of coffee pooled into a large mug and released a cloud of steam as it began to fill.

“Okay, I’ll let you go,” she eased somberly. “I just made myself a cup of coffee and I think tonight calls for a fire. Hey – wear a jacket if you go out tonight! It’s below freezing and I don’t need you to catch a cold! If a sweater doesn’t smother you, I will, and you know I keep my word! Okay,” she finished with a gleaming smile. “I love you! Keep up the good grades and I better see you at soon _before_ Christmas or I’ll hunt you down,” she playfully threatened. “Say hi to your mom for me! I miss her terribly.”

“Okay, okay, love you, too. Bye-bye,” she hastily finished, sloppily fumbling the phone out from between her ear-and-shoulder. She discarded it nearby on the counter and allowed herself to savor the moment, sipping in the fresh cup of coffee she desperately needed to warm her hands. Her eyes closed in contentment.

Off to the side, her blue-green eyes reflected on the wooden framed photo that took precedent on the kitchen counter. Under the warm lights casted by the hanging glass pendants, she steered herself closer to the nostalgic photo.

“Hi mom, I didn’t forget about you,” she sang. _How could I_ , she thought sorrowfully. A frown fixed itself upon her face, dismantling her earlier joy she oozed moments ago. “Want to help me decorate later?” She played along, reaching over to trace Liz Forbes’ glossy cheeks. “It’s a big house – we have lots to do,” she added to fill the void.

BREAK

Even though his hands were tucked into his pocket, he couldn’t help but tremble.

She hadn’t changed a day. She sounded just as he remembered her.

It couldn’t be but he had to verify his eyes weren’t deceiving him; that his ears didn’t betray him as she warmly greeted someone who was obviously near and dear. As if she moved on without regret.

Green pupils stared in disbelief as she was ignorant of her audience only a few yards away, hidden by the heavy darkness that quickly came over the city since winter approached earlier this year. His shadow merged into the surroundings but his eyes never strayed from her face as the condo provided the perfect backdrop to illuminate her features. 

She was meandering about the house, stirring like a restless mouse – conspiring her plans with festive décor already in hand. Just like her remembered to be.

She was glowing. Genuinely happy. She talked animatedly, to whom, Stefan could not tell. Perhaps she was singing along to music she promised her friend she’d play unapologetically to mark the beginning of the season.

He could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw her depart the graveyard. Liz had been buried not far from Alta – a small coastal town known for its airport and scenic ridgeline. He didn’t’ know why Liz chose the place as her final stop but she must have loved it so to remain in its cooler temperatures for fourteen years.

The northern lights were truly something, Stefan admitted. He visited once, to see how she was holding up after watching her wither in that pitiful town he couldn’t quite part with. She seemed healthier, sturdier in the snow bound mountains and found solace in its quiet retreat. His appearance only worsened her mood, so he determined it was better to keep his distance in a reluctant effort to help her heal.

When she passed away, he had to make it right. He was a year too late, having learned from Damon who was still on the run. He managed to visit on a hunch and confirmed the terrible news for his sympathetic brother. So, biting back the heartbreak, Stefan paid his respects to the woman his greatly disappointed by failing to protect the woman she held so dear.

But the second year he returned to repeat the same gesture, he was surprised to see a flash of curls waiting in the same spot. Fresh flowers adorned her headstone and he couldn’t hear what she had to say, waiting until she left, as a sign of respect. As she slipped away to the opposite direction, Stefan couldn’t help but note how uncanny she looked like Caroline – as if like a ghost.

Yet, she looked different. She blended in with the locals, wore similar attire of thick parks and multiple layers, but if he could see her face, he would convince himself it was all an illusion.

An older man asked her, having recognized her. Stefan remained back, far enough to not be spied. They weren’t speaking English but Norwegian, something Stefan had trouble distinguishing. She was fluent, replying back without a stutter.

Her voice… if it wasn’t for the language barrier, Stefan would have sworn it was Caroline’s. He was hallucinating or, Stefan logically deciphered, wishful thinking. One of the two. There were a lot of blondes in Norway.

He was ashamed to say he followed her back to a café where her hat and scarf came off. Bundles of blonde curls came undone and sprawled down her back, making him remember the very person he tried so hard to move past. Her ghost haunted him and this stranger was not helping.

She took a seat by the window, looking out towards the calm sea.

His breath caught in his throat as he gauged her face. Everything about her resembled Caroline, down to the smile she beamed when the barista delivered her coffee in quaint china. Yet, her language was off putting, no matter how fluent. She didn’t even realize she was being watched, conversing with whoever was on the phone.

“I just visited her,” she spoke in English. “No, no, don’t stress yourself. She knows you care. She would kill you if you sabotaged your studies for something like this. She knows you love her. Do her proud like the rest of us, okay?”

It was too much of a coincidence.

She bit her bottom lip as she listened to the other speaker. “I’ll send my love to her. Your mom has been good. Busy with renovations but nothing new,” she laughed. “She’s trying to compensate this time of year with festivity and I don’t blame her. We’re hosting Christmas at her house. Be there or I’ll drag you back myself,” she wanted lightly.

“I know, I know – you wouldn’t miss it for the world. Let me know when you’re done. Are you coming by car, place, or…?” she nodded along as they replied. “Okay. So, I won’t need to pick you up. Be careful then,” she bid cautiously, casting her eyes towards the high ridges. “I love you,” she said softly. Whatever they send widened the scope of her smile and she hid her blush with a curtain of hair. “Love you, too. Don’t get into too much trouble that I have to save you, right? See you soon, promise,” she ended hesitantly. Her eyes lingered on her phone, as if torn.

“He’s a good kid, mom,” Caroline – he was sure of it – said. “We did right, I think. No, I’m sure of it. He’s worried about leaving us alone for the season. I should be worrying about him, not the other way around. I finally see what you meant all these years,” she humored. “I’m sorry you won’t get to see him this year, not in person, but I know you’re watching. Make sure he’s not doing dumb things when I’m away, okay?”

She was looking up, at the sky, with a soft smile. She left the rest unsaid and let her phone rest in her pocket. She didn’t linger and once her coffee was empty, she hastily left and, to Stefan’s absolute miff, disappeared into the woods.

Too anxious, or scared he was wrong, Stefan did not dare say her name aloud. So, much to his frustration, he had to investigate leads in a land whose language he hadn’t quite mastered. He contemplated asking Klaus for assist but the mere idea caused him dread. Klaus wasn’t quite the same when Caroline died and he wasn’t sure how’d drastically he’d act at the news of Caroline alive and well.

Caroline was hidden for a reason. She didn’t want to be sought out or reconnect with that old life. Or perhaps she didn’t remember – but that theory went out the window when Stefan acknowledged she took care to reconnect with her mom from beyond the grave. She had to remember something.

As to who the ‘ _he’_ was and what his relationship was to Caroline, Stefan could only speculate. Or his mother whom Caroline was determined to spend the holiday with.

Combing a village for a spec of information when it became evident Caroline Forbes was not using her real name nor that she was the only blonde-blue-eyed woman in town of twenty thousand, Stefan hit a lead with a photo of a young boy besides an ageless Caroline framed on the local community center. That’s where he was told to look for anyone familiar – they’d be on the wall.

The boy looked nothing like her but he looked familiar. She was quite fond of him. Her smile was genuine and she did not keep any space between them. His arms were around her torso and rosy cheeks threatened to burst at the seams.

_Locals Kari Olsen and her nephew, Kol, celebrate winning the easter egg hunt with a photo and krumkake._

Something along those lines, according to his translation app.

Kol? The kid did look reminiscent of the original – same brown eyes and mussy brown hair - _and_ Stefan knew better than anything she carried a guilty conscience. However, he doubted there was legit relationship between the two. Maybe kindred spirits but no way was he really her nephew – no way.

Did she marry? He wasn’t sure if she wore a ring on her finger or not. He was too enamored with her face. If she married, perhaps that explains the nephew. And if she married… the thought pushed his brows upwards in surprise. He wouldn’t have expected that but if she did, then he’d be happy for her. She deserved it, even if parading a shallow façade around ignorant humans for the sake of keeping close to her beloved mother bordered on reckless.

If she married, then Klaus… Stefan recoiled at the thought. Klaus would be livid. Klaus was devastated and enraged by her passing. His temper was only soothed by his efforts to keep Liz comfortable, as if he was obligated, like some sort of son-in-law which he certainly wasn’t. Not for a lack of trying though. He had Caroline’s body entombed somewhere south, New Orleans maybe, just in case. In the meantime, he was absolving his guilt by sending checks to Liz – none of them cashed. She wanted no part of them, or him, or any of them really.

Damon was spurned at the door, which Stefan couldn’t fault her for. They all partly blamed him for Caroline’s death, especially when he vehemently defended Elena – the way Stefan had, too, which he felt ashamed of. Thus, the couple retreated from Mystic Falls as Klaus prioritized Caroline’s corpse, using that precious time to get ahead when it was evident Elena couldn’t face Liz or Klaus, regardless whether her humanity was forcibly restored by the vengeful Original. That was her partial punishment – being forced from her home with imminent death hovering over her delicate life was another. Damon was doing his best to keep Klaus at bay.

They were on the run like Bonnie and Clyde while the real Bonnie was restricted to Mystic Falls, too scared to move on.

If Caroline got married, that’d explain why Liz was so content in such a dramatically cold climate. She could keep close to her daughter, her blooming family, and by all accounts, a growing one if she was close to her nephew.

Could that be the kid she was referring to? The date would match up. He’d be likely in college now. Meaning Caroline was mingling with her mother for as long as Liz had settled in. Was it coincidence or did one move here for the other? How could he have missed this? The move was so sudden and out of the blue…

If Caroline moved on, without him, that’s fine – perhaps even for the better considering all the grief he brought into her life; if Klaus found out she moved on beyond him, he’d lose it. Maybe even punish Caroline – not directly – but enough to harm her new family to prove his point.

With that decided, Stefan bit his tongue, and opted to go about his search independently.

He saved a snapshot of the photo to his phone, not quite sure what to do with it. He kept it for reference mainly, he claimed to himself. _Kari Olsen_. Not too far off from her real name but the surname was too generic to pinpoint a particular person in a whole country.

It took him almost a year to trace her to Bergen. She had a profile as an upcoming journalist, rehashing the best Norway had to offer for various tourism agencies. It was a start but Stefan couldn’t see the long-term appeal for someone like her. However, her biography listed her most recent residence in Bergen, and her profile picture was an unassuming one – a blonde seated by a bench overlooking the vast blue waters, donning only the warmest apparel to combat the winter breeze. Cozy knit hat and matching mittens framed her face, highlighted by the cheerful smile she donned.

Her latest assignment, **Classic Holiday Wish List** , capitalized on all the upcoming “ _absolute must_ ” (if translation was correct) events. Because of her image, she featured herself in a photo underneath each headline to make it personal and relatable. An attractive blonde showcasing something in spite of the bitter cold and glamorizing it in a romantic lens has proven to be profitable. Why bother changing the trend when the tried-and-true equation had yet to disappoint.

A simple census check had granted Stefan the address he needed. By now, everything was too impossible to dismiss, and he was just waiting for an opportunity to make a move.

Records show she never married. That surprised Stefan in the fact he couldn’t explain the nephew he saw in the community center. The same kid showed up plenty of times in her reflections she graciously shared with the world. Mostly of the simplistic appeal of Hygge and how she celebrated those moments best with her family – including her mother, whose last name was never mentioned, and the growing boy squeezed between them in many of the photos.

The air hurt his throat as he swallowed nervously. He had stalked a good decade of her life online in a matter of months, amazed how open she had been with her ventures under her alias, with no hesitation that she’d be discovered. Perhaps she had reason for that; Stefan hadn’t discovered her until he physically came across her at Liz’s grave. He never bothered to look in that direction. Wouldn’t have even found a name.

The people she had known earlier were well travelled. They didn’t look up tourism agencies when half of them had residences themselves in the area as vacation homes. Knew the history better than most historians; lived through said history, in fact. Mostly the Mikaelsons. None of them would ever employ an agency for a part of the world they knew so intimately. Caroline was safe in that regard.

After 25 years, Stefan could scarcely believe it. Caroline Forbes was alive and well when everyone in her life a quarter-decade earlier believed her to be dead. _Kari Olsen_ prospered. The question plagued him: why didn’t she return? Why wouldn’t she at least make an effort to connect with him at least?

He’d find out soon enough.

BREAK

Her mother never had a chance to celebrate in person in Caroline’s new abode. She wasn’t meant to. Caroline had purchased the property as a last resort. She would have loved to stay in her seaside haven, full of history and warmth and pleasant sounds.

Unfortunately, all that faded after the fearsomely strong woman had succumbed to cancer, a lengthy fight which Liz fought with every ounce she could, but after years of unsuccessful chemotherapy, her frail body couldn’t handle the stress. Now the walls of that bright yellow house seemed hollow and cold. It was at that time Caroline couldn’t stand to be in her previous home. Too many memories flooded her at once each time she stepped into the historic cottage by the sea

So, in a last-ditch effort to start anew (a decision seconded by the people most important to her) Caroline opted to find a new haven. Somewhere even more densely populated as she yearned to reconnect with people. It was safer, too. Harder to find a needle in a haystack if the haystack is 200,000 people opposed to just 20,000.

It was a bitter goodbye that season. Three weeks shy of Christmas. Two years officially, Caroline tried but failed to forget. The only good thing that came with it was the high price point which she profited off, enough to gather extra square footage for her present residence.

It was getting better, she thought sometimes. She wondered what she would have done if it wasn’t for her support system. She had moved her mother out to Alta to escape the madness of Mystic Falls, to which proved to be the best decision because her state of mind relaxed significantly now that she was detached from the supernatural drama and closer to her daughter, of whom she thought dead for years. Imagine her surprise to see Caroline alive and well, thriving in the Norwegian temperament, and with a promise of making up for lost time, Liz didn’t need much convincing to move abroad.

Imagine her surprise to see Caroline wasn’t alone – Katherine, newly human, was with her, too. They seemed to get along fine. If anything, Liz was enamored with Kol – newly reincarnated Kol, bound to the same mortality as Liz and Katherine, but with the great advantage of old magic which he had no qualms exploring.

Liz took to the boy like the grandson she didn’t think she’d be blessed with when life was snuffed out of Caroline for the first time. Kol was seven then, young and impressionable, and beguiled by the elder woman who looked so much like the blonde he fondly called ‘Auntie’.

They had sixteen amazing years together.

The last four being the roughest patch. Kol was in university and abroad; Katherine was seeking shelter in the same quiet den deep in the woods where even time couldn’t touch her, Fae magic assured; Caroline was on her own for most of the days, faithfully at her bedside until hospice was no longer an option. Kol and Katherine made the great sacrifice to join her as the final weeks lagged on.

Caroline worried for Katherine’s mental health as they bided their time: seeing a woman wither on her deathbed couldn’t be good for Katherine as her own mortality loomed over her head of dark curls. Yet, Katherine was stoic through the entire ordeal, and lent Caroline the shoulder she desperately needed.

Kol’s mental health plagued Caroline also. She knew Kol was well aware he, too, would lose his mother – _when_ was the ominous question that lurked in their psyche. Tomorrow? In a year? Kol’s eyes anxiously wandered to Katherine time and time again, no doubt wondering when she’d succumb to time.

That was part of the deal. She’d be extended vitality, if she could grant Kol life, too. They would be sheltered somewhere even old magic couldn’t touch, where time would stand still within the realm the Fae reigned. The one whom had made their acquaintance had designated Katherine a humble cottage until Kol was of age to stand on his own two feet. She was graciously given an extension, having not burdened the former. So, she resided there until the time being, only venturing out for a few days but not enough to tempt fate to take away what had been so easily ripped for her.

And Kol… Kol was the power that bound them together. Including Liz who doted on him (and he onto her).

Katherine was ignorant of the full process, only the proposition she was given by the strange sprite that had come to her in the void. Caroline was beside her, equally scared of the concept of being trapped behind the veil, yet this unfamiliar being could come and go per her own will.

The Fae, then Original Kol had explained. Devious little devils with unparallel power who rarely mingle with anything less than their own. Somehow, in the past, Kol had spared one from an unsavory end, and as a reward, promised him a second chance – all of them actually. In that moment, her beady green eyes decided a plan that all three fit into.

Katherine was in the position of a viable womb. Reincarnation was a simple chore for something like the sprite; More so, Kol could be reacquainted with his beloved magical roots should he be born into a womb of unique circumstances. Katherine was _viable_ , the sprite pressed on, and of extraordinary circumstances. Katherine could maintain life if she could give it – and one look casted towards Kol was all that needed to be exchanged to convey her intent. 

Surprisingly, Kol agreed, and Katherine reluctantly seconded. Caroline was prodded to be their protection until further notice, as she displayed character the sprite deemed worthy and Katherine’s seal of approval. Trust wasn’t something the doppelganger easily granted and Caroline was the closest thing to a confidant.

Nine months seemed like a blink to a thousand-year-old vampire but surprisingly, Kol remembered nothing of his early life – not until he was ten or so. Kol was essentially branded a fresh new canvas. Katherine, too. She clung to the infant the moment Caroline assisted delivering him.

That evening scared Caroline. The rain pattered heavily against the window, deafening almost. Katherine’s wails and pants seemed to foretell less than savory chances she’d survive the ordeal. The entire labor took hours, beginning from lunch to what seemed like midnight and beyond. The bed was drenched with sweat and blood. The latter did not tempt Caroline as much as she had worried about; the thought of accidently killing Katherine in the midst of childbirth for the sake of blood lust was a daily fret before Kol was even a bump. Oddly enough, the strong metallic taste in the air did not overwhelm her instincts.

Since Kol was a mere fetus, she had grown protective of him. It was the strangest bond. She would console Katherine, keep her company, and ease her burdens by taking on most of the labor around the house – but her favorite thing was to coo the growing bump nesting in Katherine’s belly.

Caroline was determined to do Kol right. He wasn’t born evil or a psychopath. He was a boy who was neglected and destroyed. He grew up in a dysfunctional family in the peak of violence and who knows what. Caroline would not condemn him to a similar fate. No, she insisted he was loved and he’d be nurtured; proving love would overcome all. He just needed the right people to guide him.

_“I’m going to call you my little Koala Bear and you are going to like it,” she teased while poking Katherine’s 8-month development. The mother groaned when the baby kicked – **hard**. “You were pretty cute as a thousand-year-old vampire. I bet you’re going to be quite the lady killer as a wee little thing,” she chuckled, holding her hand atop the spot which Katherine complained about. “Seriously, no lady killing! We’re going to raise you better than that! Whatever crazy magic you get, we’ll handle it. I’m the only one around here with fangs,” she grinned_.

She was a goner when he came into the world. She swaddled him and let Katherine rest, rocking him to sleep the best she could. She would be tended to by the sprite. She came as soon as she knew Kol was delivered. As to how, Caroline did not ask. Their brand of magic was beyond the blonde’s comprehension.

_“I want to think we’re making this right,” she soothed – more so herself than the infant. “You were there! You said we could do this! You trust us, right?” she pleaded. The baby gripped her finger while he yawned himself to blissfully sleep. She admired the fluff of hair atop his head, patting it down._

_“Someone should have saved you. You shouldn’t have died like that. I should have stopped it. If only we had listened… You were right the whole time and you paid for it with your life,” she choked up. She had died as a direct result of that damn cure. Too many people had suffered for something that pitifully went to waste. It was supposed to be for Elena! Elena who used it to punish Katherine. Elena who killed them both. Elena… Elena who killed so fucking many of them, Caroline bit back the bitterness. She didn’t want to tread on such awful thoughts. Who knew if he could pick up on them? She was told his abilities would be spectacular. Much too powerful than any ordinary Warlock. He was too precious to expose to world this early on._

_Odd. It was hard to associate the vengeful original vampire with a thirst for blood baths to the tiny baby cradled in her arms, safe and warm in a green hand knit blanket. She felt more disdain for the woman and the brothers who set fire to earth in vain. The stupid cure… Caroline, Kol, Katherine… all dead… while the people who caused it were still alive – well as alive as a vampire could be. Kol was sacrificed for doing the right thing and they didn’t even know it then. Her eyes stung with tears._

_“You may have done questionable things in your life but that’s done now. You deserve this. I’m going to make sure of it. You trust me. I’ll prove to you that you can,” she vowed with unshakeable resolve. She rocked him fluidly, content to see him soundly asleep and, much to her relief, peaceful. “I’m going to be the best protector you ever met. You might even call me auntie. Can you say Auntie Caroline? You don’t have to say the whole thing! You can say Aunt Care. I like the ring of that!”_

_Katherine took to him like glue. She begged for him when she awoke from her deep slumber, crying out like a woman torn apart. Caroline knew from the beginning of his conception Katherine had developed some sort of dependence on him – he was her purpose and savior even. She couldn’t be away from him for too long or else she suffered bouts of panic. She couldn’t have another child stolen from her. She only trusted Caroline with him, not even the sprite who visited now and then._

_Kol was tied to her, too. She wasn’t just a woman who raised him or comforted him. She beguiled him with endless stories and enriched him with that same wit which Caroline admired. Katherine did not reserve herself; she doted on him. She would always reach for him, just to assure herself he was near. She didn’t care if he looked nothing like her or if his legacy was tied with the worst parts of her life; she was no longer a vampire or constantly running. She was just Katherine: a mother of a boy who was growing up so fast and someone who could be dependable; someone who could love and be loved and do so freely, without fear of consequence. It was a time in their life they could breathe and stand still._

_Kol brought out her humanity and he brought out hers. At the cost of mortality, neither seemed to mind._

They were dead to the world – trapped in a realm neither present, past, or future – but the cottage which they resided seemed to be of Romanesque that tipped closer to Gothic: plainly constructed, and with much to be desired. But it was okay because they were safe and sound and able to venture to the near fishing village for their market essentials.

The simple living grew on Caroline who appreciated the daily strolls and vast scenery that enveloped them. Humans were ignorant of their circumstances, though superstitious of the woods – speaking of changelings and mystery lights that no doubt hinted to something unworldly beyond their village limits.

They may have spent their best years in those woods and wandering the village. Katherine took to motherhood instinctively, coddling Kol who, as Caroline as always theorized, was born good and curious and yet to be tainted by terrible factors. What a brilliant boy, Kol was. He was a troublemaker with a mischievous streak but where Katherine lagged, Caroline could keep up.

She took on the role as protector very seriously, vigilant of Katherine and Kol’s well-being. She had no word of the outside world other than the promise any other magic besides the native Fae could not find them within the parameters they were instructed to keep within. She wondered how Klaus would respond to his disappearance; how he’d react to Katherine’s revived mortality that was cut short due to time’s cruel reality; if the vow the veil cutting the worlds apart would permanently absolve into an unreachable void be a deterrence to Klaus or a reality he would never accept.

Liz’s insistence might have convinced the Hybrid. She was mourning the loss of her last surviving family. No wonder Klaus let her be… Her shell of a self is probably why he didn’t question her move away Mystic Falls on such short notice. The whole town was a living, terrible reminder of Caroline’s short-lived existence.

Then she reunited with Caroline, and Kol, and Katherine – all of whom enveloped her into their quiet little haven carved out in the great unknown. Nights spent by the fire with coco and tea; the northern lights dancing above their heads as they watched with wonder and awe; Liz teaching Kol everything Caroline recalled in her own childhood – being the grandmother Kol deserved and Liz wanted to be. Kol beguiling her with magic, to which she was not the least bit startled by. Her laughter was music to her ears.

They had begun their best chapter in Alta for the next fourteen years. Fourteen wonderful years of long, simple days and cozy toes by the fireside; soft waves washing ashore and fantastic lights flittering above their heads; almost a decade-and-a-half of pleasant mornings clinking cups and mindful strolls through town, picking up market staples and brainstorming the big family meal they looked forward to…

All came to a sudden halt when breathing became harder and strolls became shorter and shorter. It was a sign of worse weather to come.

Liz’s death nearly destroyed Caroline if it wasn’t for Katherine and Kol consoling her, insisting that they continue to do Liz justice – to live just as she had hoped they would.

She wanted Caroline to make the most of her circumstances, to live extraordinarily and without regret.

She had given Kol similar advice, consoling him as the grandmother she likened herself to be. She had seen him grow from a young, careless seven-year-old boy eager to take on the world and all its mysteries to a cautious twenty-some year-old man in the midst of his toughest trials yet – University – and she scolded him for putting them on hold for her sake. Lovingly, she told him to continue his studies, to never lose his wit, and to heed the advice of his elders – eyeing Katherine and Caroline as she spoke.

Katherine and Caroline had done their best to raise him right. Caroline introduced him to the path unknown, beyond the safety of Katherine’s limitations, and trusted to keep him on track; Katherine embraced him in unconditional comfort and always had a set of hands to take hold of his cheeks when he felt vulnerable or warm his hand when the walks were cold. Katherine was her most forgiving with Kol and it was obvious in the way Kol leaned on her instinctively, even when he grew to tower over them both.

It was going to crumble him when time collected on Katherine’s debt, Caroline mused bitterly. No vampire remedy for her – the cure put a kink in that plan. She had lived a long life on the run and then died with few friends around; only to be granted a second chance, however temporary it may be – just enough to live a life she always wanted but was pried from her at a tender teenage age, solely because she was unfortunately deemed a desirable doppelganger. Even then, time loomed, reminding her that she couldn’t afford to be as free as she wished to be – not beyond the humble little village outside the mysterious woods she called home.

Doomed from the start, Caroline scorned. Katherine deserved better than that.

And Kol deserved better than to be parted from the woman he had grown to love and rightfully deem his mother. She earned that right and so did he. They were tight as thieves. Katherine thrived as someone with a purpose, with security, and seeing the fruits of her labor blossom into a boy they were happy to say was nothing like the Kol they scarcely remembered from decades ago.

Their Kol was different. He was full of humor and ambition, a man with a mission and drive that would rival Caroline’s. He wanted to live life to the fullest and see what the world had to offer – a thought that scared Katherine to the core because she couldn’t protect him when he did. That was Caroline’s role – to watch him beyond the nest, to ensure no one would dare harm a hair on his head, especially his other family that had all but abandoned him after years of neglect.

He remember that much as he got older. Flashes of terror and anger; angst and betrayal; everything in between. The bloodshed, too. Oh, the bloodshed.

_But... all that carnage… if that was me… and them… and you but you’re not like that…_ Kol had tried to grapple with Caroline at his side. Her hand never left his shoulder, holding him dear. He knew what she was; she didn’t hesitate to explain that to him early on so he wouldn’t be startled by how she sustained herself (though she did her best to keep it out of sight).

Those visions worsened as he aged. By his teens, he was haunted by anxieties from his past life. The fear of being unloved, chastised, and cast away – only to be confined and forgotten for indefinitely. He’d cry out for Caroline and Katherine; seeking out their reassurance which they eagerly gave, shaking into him that hell-and-fire couldn’t tear them apart.

His siblings whom he could barely remember the names of but whose faces were clear as day, sneering and jeering or dismissing him. They were cruel and callous. Kol had begged Caroline for answers, desperate for rectification, but she could only indulge in the truth – the painful past and the promise he could escape the cycle.

Under no circumstance was he to seek them out. Not their rules but the few the Fae imposed. Not until Kol could stand on his own. They were to not take custody of the boy or know of his existence. This was Kol’s second chance that would have been impossible in any other scenario.

_I’m so proud of you_ , Caroline never neglected to say. Didn’t matter if he was seven or seventeen – or twenty-five, she thought somberly. He needed to hear it; he deserved it. She wouldn’t fail him like his siblings did. She loved him from the moment he wiggled into her arms and she saw him for what he was: a boy tarnished by terrible things and she vowed to never let such a thing happen twice.

A collage of photos not far from her mother’s portrait told their life in a mixed timeline: like the photo of Katherine nuzzling a toddler who hid shyly into the nook of her neck; ten-year-old Kol and Caroline holding sparklers above a twilight-painted beach; Kol toasting to his ‘first’ beer (first legal beer) at the promising age of eighteen.

He loved books. He was never without one. His entire room was dedicated to his collection of stories. It was no doubt he’d pursue his passion into University studying not just anthropology but various languages that he took easily, too.

It took her years to master Norwegian and then deviated into French for the heck of it. That’s where she wanted to visit next, when all was said and done – whenever that was.

Caroline and Kol had a fair share of their own photos together. Caroline was the one who oversaw him while he was away at college. She played the dutiful part as a cousin rather than an aunt, attending similar classes before she teetered into her own degree – journalism, of course, followed by a minor in communications.

Once they separated academically, she settled to making the most of her time with her mother while Kol began to make the most of his independent life – knowing Katherine and Caroline were only days’ drive away. Having Caroline move to Bergen after her mother’s death hastened the journey to a mere seven hours by car. Less than an hour if by plane.

Kol still found a way to shorten the trip by means of Fae rings – something that Caroline was cautious about – but it did provide the swiftest, safest link from Kol’s current place to his childhood abode where Katherine was tucked safely away from harm. He was determined not to leave a trace now that he was more aware of his siblings prowling about. Under the radar, they agreed. It was a good thing to keep in mind if he needed a hasty retreat. Hopefully, Caroline swallowed painfully, it would never need to come to that.


	2. Alta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine's perspective from her safe haven in northern Norway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I was a bit lagged when I wrote this because of work, a winter storm, bleh, it's just... whatever it is. So proofreading wasn't something I did with this one. 
> 
> 2) I really wanted to emphasize the mutual fondness between Mother and Son but by the time I got to that part, my brain was just like GET OUT DIALOGUE, GO TO BED. I hope I captured just how nurturing she is and differently she treats Kol than others; she doesn't see him as Kol the Original but Kol, the boy she raised up from a mere infant. 
> 
> That's genuine love and maybe even a bond deeper than parent-child ties...hmm. Fae magic does have some consequences.... (no, no incest if any weird pervert thinks Kol & Katherine as a THING would happen with this circumstance.) 
> 
> 3) How lonely is she? Because she definitely needs to be with her people. I will make that happen and happy things will follow. It's almost Christmas y'all (literally - in the timeline and of tomorrow, if you count xmas eve). Tis the best time. 
> 
> Overall, HAPPY HOLIDAYS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The weather wasn’t ideal to venture out but she couldn’t help it: she needed to escape the deafening silence that haunted her home.

Even with gloves, her fingers froze in the confines of her deep pockets and she tucked her hair under her scarf as the wind began to pick up, howling an awful noise in her ears as she scuttled along the bay. The cooler currents from the icy sea intensified the chill in her bones and she wondered if the trip was truly worth it. Keeping her head low and pulling her hood forward, she hoped to avoid the brunt of it as she saw the village lights beam not too far from the trail which she took daily.

Her sweetened coffee was still piping hot in the thermal Caroline had given her the Christmas before; given how close it was approaching, Katherine mused on the colorful cannister fondly. A long sip savoring the molten liquid offered a flash of warmth, running down her throat and bringing heat back to her wind-bitten cheeks.

“It’s a bit brisk,” a man said raising his hand in friendly greeting. She spied him near the docks, prepared for the bitter December chill in hefty layers than almost gave him a rounded shape. A tight-lipped smile framed by frozen hairs of an impressive beard was a welcomed sight; the locals had taken to her as one of their own finally. The acknowledge made her feel slightly better as she found herself on her own. 

She raised her thermal and he nodded along, acknowledging the gesture. “It’s all we can do until it passes, I suppose,” she returned jovially.

“You’re not wrong,” he spun along. Once his back was turned to finish his work aboard the modest boat, Katherine took her leave hurriedly. She spied the café she and Caroline frequented, knowing immediately was she was craving.

After a couple minutes in the cold and trudging through wind, she could use a pick-me-up in the form of Fattigmans – she could taste the warm sugary, doughy sinful treats laced with the potency of powdered sugar to amplify the sweetness. Or butter cookies – though she’d only take them if they were fresh from the oven. She needed something warm and gooey and sooner than later.

Bakery treats were her comfort items. Always had been. It was something that also bonded the three of them when they first settled in these northern parts. Katherine was somewhat familiar with the language but Caroline’s enthusiasm for it had beguiled the café owner; an American who actively tried to integrate herself into their culture? It was just the impression she needed to make to get in their good graces. Otherwise, most outsiders were usually met with a cold welcome. A small smile, nothing more; polite and impersonal. 

Katherine wasn’t as fond as venturing outside her safe haven. She liked the sights and sounds after being smothered by the same tree line for days endlessly but she didn’t want to risk exposure. She was paranoid and rightfully so. Kol all but intensified her need to keep hidden. The village itself was unassuming and smaller in comparison to others but Katherine liked to play it safe; at least until she felt the coast was clear. They weren’t protected by immortality or strength like Caroline. They also were deemed more valuable from a magical standpoint. All it took was for one ambitious witch on behalf of motivated Original to put a target on their backs. So long they stayed within the circle that encased their quaint cabin in the woods, no one could touch them – not even by magic. The Fae had their ways and Katherine was eternally grateful for that.

But Caroline was restless and made a fair point Kol had to integrate into society eventually. Slowly, but surely, they did.

Kol was sociable just like the blonde; making friends easily at school once he was of age – always escorted by Caroline to and from home. It was easier that way, too, and good for Katherine’s mind – Caroline worked only a few blocks from the school and had impeccable perception should danger ever wander nearby.

Kol excelled at school. He was a brilliant boy with a mind gifted for solving riddles. He would linger in the library whenever he had a chance, reading through the archives like bedtime stories. Katherine and Caroline encouraged it happily. He would use that wit and talent for more than just trivial pursuits. His magical inclinations developed early and Katherine found a trusted tutor in the form of a halfling who had collected plenty of grimoires from the past – the ‘ _from who_ ’ was a morbid question Katherine dared not confirm the answer to, knowing how little the Fae cared for meddlesome witches.

The addition of Liz made things somewhat better. Caroline had caved to her hearts’ yearnings and pleaded to the sprite for a way to reconnect.

_Did you not hear what we warned you about?_ The sprite spat back.

_I just want to know if she’s okay!_ Caroline argued adamantly. She showed more courage and defiance than Katherine could ever conjure. Caroline, after all, had little conception of just how powerful the Fae could be; let alone their reputation to be notoriously spiteful. _You promised me! I’d commit the rest of my long, infinite life to ensure no harm comes to them if it meant my mother was safe from harm for the rest of her life, too! I want assurance you did your share of the deal, too!_

It was a risky venture, questioning the word of the Fae to their face, but the Fae were also known to be conniving bastards when they wanted to be. Caroline was right to call the sprite on her bluff.

A swoosh and a flash – and they were gone. Katherine was certain Caroline would come back; it was part of their bargain. The Fae had delegated protective duty onto her so they wouldn’t be bothered with ‘something trivial’ as the sprite referred numerous times. Time warped differently whenever the Fae were concerned; it was only a matter of hours before Caroline came back, unscathed, but troubled.

_She’s miserable,_ Caroline cried into Katherine’s arms. The brunette had comforted her confidant the best she could. She had similar moments of distress which Caroline intercepted with no hesitation. It was Caroline’s nature and now it was Katherine’s turn to return the favor. Their friendship was a genuine one; close to kin as one could get.

_I can’t even talk to her on the phone! They’d know and track it back to us! I can’t risk it! Damnit, this isn’t fair!_ Caroline wailed into the nook of her neck. It was unsettling to see the blonde tremble in her arms, shaken to nothing but a little girl. Caroline was their pillar – a vampire who, by all means, was basically an Original.

That was also another part of the deal. A way to cement Caroline’s role as a capable protector. A thousand years of bloodshed was too great of a sacrifice to obliviate in the greater universe. Kol’s decision to relinquish his vampirism meant the power had to go somewhere. It wouldn’t just disappear – not something that great, old, and established. So, the sprite managed to mitigate all those centuries of murder and power into Caroline’s newly restored body – enhancing her Vampirism to the same degree as an Original; strength and speed included.

All those years between then and his final death had culminated into a force of its own. A legacy built upon centuries of great sacrifice. So much blood had been spilt, it could encompass a river. The Fae relished in sacrifice as the significant life force the substance symbolized. It had to be taken into account (or more like taken advantage of) – and it was shuffled away into Caroline’s petite form. No one would suspect she adopted the Original’s prowess in some strange, Fae contract.

Kol, desperate to rejoin the living, and even more so, a chance to regain the magic he was forcibly cut from, had agreed to these terms. He’d happily reset himself back to when he was just a boy, not yet tarnished by his mother’s violent intervention. Albeit, a magically inclined boy, but a capable one, no less, if provided proper teaching. A fresh start, entrusting a stranger with his infant form – all for the sake of magic he so desperately coveted. She couldn’t fault him for that when she, too, clung onto any chance to escape such dim confines behind the veil. 

The fact Kol reset himself back to the days when he was just a mere boy, and that was literally a thousand years ago, meant his lapse of memory would be poor at best. Realistically, it was just as void as the veil itself. He couldn’t recount anything, not fully. Specs here and there but nothing solid.

Katherine wasn’t sure how to feel about that – relieved he wouldn’t be plagued by the past? Or horrified he was completely cut off from what he knew and she’d be responsible to framing his new mindset with memories completely of her choice. That kind of responsibility scared her. She wasn’t sure how to approach Kol’s impending upbringing morally – if ignorance was bliss or if transparency would ruin him.

Then there’s Caroline. Caroline who remembered everything. Caroline who burdened everything with resilient strength until she herself caved under the reminding nothing but she was infinite. What a terrible fate she resigned herself to; propelled by good intentions and anticipating few rewards accept that, much like Katherine, she’d have some direction and purpose for the time being. That they could change their course for the better.

Caroline who had sacrificed everything to protect them. Or maybe not – because was there truly anything for her beyond the veil except the impending void that threatened to consume its inhabitants? Caroline’s options were thin… but she didn’t waste any time accepting the conditions: redeem her immortality, amplified with Kol’s relinquished vampirism which she’d absorb, all to fulfill the promise she’d utilize her extraordinary abilities if circumstances demand.

Caroline who still had the biggest heart but bore the most vulnerable soul, too. She was just a girl who took on too much for the sake of others and Katherine could only console Caroline, frustrated she couldn’t do more.

But Caroline wasn’t a quitter. Katherine recognized the perseverance in her spirit early on. It didn’t surprise her to see her scheme. She was clever when she intervened, strong in her resolve, and if she willed it, it would happen. Katherine could appreciate her spirit. Had seen it in herself once, a long time ago, and to see it shine in Caroline was a wonderful sight.

If Kol was her son – and he certainly was – she saw Caroline not just as close friend and confidant but as someone she aspired to mentor, for the better. Not as Katherine the ruthless vampire but an old soul who withered and caved under tremendous pressure, unwilling for the cruelness of fate to take another vibrant soul she knew Caroline to be. She would not let Caroline follow in her footsteps.

_Force them to make good on their promise_ , Katherine advised sternly. Blue met brown in an intense gaze. _They said they’d make sure she was safe from harm but if she’s miserably, isn’t she suffering? They thrive on word play. Use your own. Force their hand. You agreed to their terms if it meant she was going to be safe and sound. The only way to do that if she’s close to you – understand?_ _Make them lose their own game_.

Caroline nodded and straightened her spine stiff, determined to get her way. No sooner than those words were exchanged, a confrontation ensued, with Caroline claimed victor as the sprite she contested reneged out of frustration. One accusing glance to Katherine confirmed to all who was the real mastermind behind Caroline’s sudden resistance to the Fae’s all-and-mighty façade. Caroline had it in her; she just needed support and Katherine was all too happy to contribute any she could give.

They made a pact, the two of them. Katherine wasn’t going to run away, not this time. She held Kol at her side, no older than seven. He was all included. He was the glue that bonded them; the shared purpose that strengthened their kinship.

Katherine was grateful for Liz. She was the refreshing break of air they all needed. A woman to remind them to stop and _just breathe_. Appreciate the simple pleasures, she’d instill in them. Katherine sought out her company like a lamb sought out its flock. She was a mother in the way she actually r _aised_ Caroline. Katherine may have given birth twice but Kol was the first child she had been given permission to claim as her own, to hold and watch grow old. (The latter fact still scared her plenty and she tried to not weigh on it).

Katherine trusted her immediately without a speckle of doubt. Liz was an abundance of advice, down to the way she nursed Kol after a frightening fever or spoke Katherine down from a panic attack. The way they found common ground in so many ways – like being on their own and constantly tied with impossible tasks that, no matter what, they miraculously managed. Liz was the woman Katherine aspired to be.

It was hard being without her. Katherine still couldn’t bring herself to visit her grave. Her absence hurt immensely and Katherine avoided the path that walked by her house, the one by the sea that practically served as Caroline’s second residence. Katherine visited often; finding whatever excuse to stretch out her legs and say hi to the friendly woman who had more than enough time on her hands to humor Katherine’s incessant ponderings.

_You’re still a girl,_ Liz soothed. Katherine still felt the ghost of her palm resting on her cheek. _You’re not alone in this. You have me and Caroline and Kol… he loves you. We can see it. You’re not going to disappoint him. You won’t. You may have spats or disagreements but the love is there. It’s undeniable._

Liz was a warmer reflection of the mother Katherine barely remembered. Her household was different: colder and stricter. Liz was like the Spring, warm and welcoming with plenty of color to spare. Liz was what she needed next to Caroline. They both needed her and they did everything in their power to make sure she was at home in such strange, foreign soil.

_Katie,_ Liz affectionately called her. _You can’t hide forever. You spent your entire life running and hiding. You’ll never live like that. You can’t be a prisoner in your own palace. You won’t find peace there._

She often looked at Caroline when she said such things. She always advocated for Caroline to spread her wings and go far, far away. Somewhere new and exciting. She had infinite years to make the most of. _Start now_ , she’d prod. _Don’t hold yourself back now. Don’t do that again._

Katherine often felt Liz was implicating her, too, when she pushed for her daughter to explore new horizons.

_Later_ , Caroline procrastinated. _I need to make time with you. I need to protect them._

_When he’s finds how to stand on his own feet, you promise? When he makes his own way, you’ll pave one for yourself, too?_ Liz pleaded. Why was it that she was looking at both them when she imposed this request? Katherine couldn’t shake the look in her eyes from that particular moment. It clung to her like a thorn tangled in fabric and poking through to skin.

Caroline had endless time. Katherine did not. Her clock resumed when she last died – at the tender age of 18. Remaining in the realm untouched by time for most of the time since they’re revitalization, she had to gander that she didn’t age more than a decade, but oddly, her youth remained. A blessing, she supposed. She didn’t have to stress much aside from being a first time, active parent with tremendous help from friends like Caroline and later Liz. Kol was an easy, loving child that didn’t cause her many trials. She had basic needs tended to and spared the labor of work – meaning she could entertain herself with relaxing pursuits. She didn’t think she’d be getting wrinkles anytime soon.

Liz knew better. She pressed upon Katherine to make most of her time. That being scared of the inevitable would hold her hostage. She could stay young and untouched by time – untouched by anything really – in their safe little getaway unknown to the world but she’d be tremendously lonely. _She could hide from the world_ , Liz raised a point while she patted her hand as she did plenty of times, _or she could really truly live that she hadn’t before_. _To find love; to grow old and watch her child become a parent themselves; didn’t she want to be married and perhaps, if allowed, consider growing her nest?_

If her body was revived to its full function, it was a possibility…

_You are not unlovable_ , Liz accentuated. _You deserve to reclaim what was taken for you. Make most of your blessings and run wild with them. Live recklessly and freely. She was given a second chance and she was nearly cleared of her confinement. Kol was growing and he’d be his own man; then what would Katherine have left except her own vocation? She did her job – now is the time to enjoy the fruits of her labor._

_“Kol is better off an only child,” Katherine waved off then. Kol was leaving for college. A (reasonably) late-twenty-something woman bearing a child after her other child was basically in the same era as his mother? Imagine explain that to her spouse… that her son and she would be of near identical age… and then bringing another child into that, if all odds persevered…?_

_“Don’t let your fears define you,” Liz wagged her finger in disapproval. “Don’t cut yourself short like that.”_

Liz was her sole company for the latter years of her life, before Caroline came running back at the soonest notice of her illness. Katherine stepped back and allowed her daughter to grieve even know Katherine herself felt she was shattering on the inside. How could some come and go like that…? And worse, she knew it wouldn’t be the first. If she was lucky, she’d go before Kol; Obviously before Caroline; but with Liz… it was like losing her mother all over again but it was painfully slow and agonizing to watch over.

Katherine wasn’t as pained to send Caroline off when Kol was determined to leave the nest. At least it was for the pursuit of higher education. He thrived as an overachieving academic. Oslo or bust. The best schools were near there and he wouldn’t settle for less.

Caroline did as her duty demanded – keep him safe, with Katherine’s blessing. Katherine did her part to raise him and keep him from the hands of those who wish him ill; Caroline would move with him as he ventured onto his next chapter. She proved she was more than capable time and time again. Caroline would be on campus with him the whole way through. They were going through their coming-of-age adventure simultaneously – the best experience one could wish for, since they were thick as thieves from the very beginning.

Instead of being his concerned aunt, Caroline was his close-knit cousin, and Katherine was his sister, if anyone asked. The one who raised him after their parents unfortunate passing. It was tiring constantly keeping up with lies…

So many stories… Katherine lost count. The initial one was when Kol could actually pass as her son. Caroline was her dedicated sister-in-law coming from the states to help the widowed Katherine and her dear nephew Kol start anew. That would explain the lack of resemblance and obvious foreign element about them. Kol’s ‘ _father_ ’ Stefan Olsen had died in a car accident when Katherine was still pregnant, explaining Kol’s absent memory. The move to Alta was the farthest town they could think of. A leap of faith in search of simpler times.

_Really, Stefan? Katherine exasperated._

_Yes, because he was like a brother to me, Caroline explained awkwardly. It’s the closest thing to the truth! Do have you any other name in mind?_

Katherine was caught there. Stefan it was. Olsen… well, it was generic and hard to trace. Easy.

With Kol recently turning twenty-five last month, Katherine had an impossible time imagining people believing the lie. Kol didn’t look no older than her! She could, with some assistance, maybe convey thirty-ish but her unblemished face often assumed a younger mirage of twenty-seven – which is what she often opted for anyhow.

And Caroline was forever seventeen, Katherine and Kol were undeniably her elders in society’s eyes. She would push no older than early twenties, which she was while she attended college. Ironic, how was the immortal who’d outlive them both bore the baby-face? That prompted a low chuckle out of Katherine as she fixed herself a seat by the fire.

Kol and Caroline were cousins now; that was the current story. However, Caroline still acted like the doting aunt, much to Kol’s chagrin. Katherine hovered and coddled, even from afar, but Kol accepted such gestures without complaint. They missed each other terribly and when she could, she’d make use of the café’s WIFI to video chat with him. She tried to not be repetitive to avoid suspicion – a trick she learned from the past.

The café was barely occupied except for the barista taking a smoke break out back and a woman making most of the fireplace. Katherine sought refuge in the corner, able to see out the window overlooking the scenery. A perfect surveillance spot to spy any wandering eyes.

Pulling her phone from her coat’s inner pocket, she meandered down her call list. It was a short one. Right away, she saw his name. It took no more than two dial tones before his face came into view.

It was uncanny how he looked – an exact replica of his old self – but she knew better. He was nothing like the Original Vampire. This was her Kol. Her boy. The kid with his nose in a book and so deep in concentration, he rarely heard his mother or Caroline call him from the next room over. Now, she noticed how mused his hair was – a habit he was scratching his scalp; a telltale sign he was exhausted and pushing himself. He’d complain of neck pains and migraines the next morning. He always did. She’d note his troublesome habit later.

“Coffee and books? How boring,” she teased with a grin. She had supplied herself with the bakery she had craved and a refill of coffee, scattering plenty of sugar packets all around to signify her taste as a shameless sweet tooth.

“I have finals,” he returned in similar tune. He raised a heavy textbook.

“Don’t let me keep you up too late,” she said while wagging a finger. “I miss you. Are you eating?”

“Yes,” he grumbled.

“Drinking plenty of water?”

“Sure,” he shrugged.

She blinked then narrowed her eyes. “Getting plenty of sleep…?”

“…No…”

“Kol!” She admonished. “Sleep is just as important!”

“So is reading!”

“You can read to your hearts content after you graduate and have time on your hands but don’t deprive yourself of sleep! You’re not a vampire,” she accused worriedly. He cast her a dry look. “You’re my only living child. I have the right to worry,” she defended. “You never went to bed on time…” she reflected warmly. “We’d just let you read yourself to sleep but you’d be a zombie in the morning. You never quite got a routine down.” Some things haven’t changed, she mused with tender affection. 

It was an endearing quality. He collected books like he collected spell – all the time. He’d stay up all night and Katherine would lull him awake in the afternoon, finding him exhausted after a scrap of sleep. He never made time to tidy his room or cover his tracks either. He was smart enough to master a difficult spell but too dense to hide the evidence.

“Two weeks,” he held two fingers with a promising smile. “Caroline said she doesn’t mind hosting.” Something was bothering him. He was hesitating to speak. “I don’t think we should risk it. I’d rather we host at your place…”

“I’m not going to crumble into ash overnight,” she cut in quickly, offering a loose grin. “I’m out here, aren’t I? See? I’m intact,” she wiggled her hand for effect. “I have _years_ before I go. Decades even.” 

“Grandma Liz wasn’t that old,” Kol grumbled.

Her death hit him hard. Two years was pretty fresh. It wasn’t even a month shy of his birthday and within days, barely a week since they celebrated, she would take her last breath. It was a sour note for him that year. Caroline didn’t know where to begin to console him, knowing how hurt he was, but he tried not to show. He was projecting onto her, comforting her with every ounce he could muster because she just lost here mom. That was a tremendous loss to burden and he wanted to be supportive, burying his own grief in the process, until Caroline snapped him out of it and explained it was okay to mourn. Katherine went through similar motions. Caroline was with her through the end, lending a shoulder after Katherine had offered hers during Caroline’s lowest point.

“Liz had cancer…” Katherine frowned.

“So..,” he fidgeted, “you could, too! It’s safer there!”

“I won’t be held hostage by the inevitable,” Katherine recounted Liz’s wisdom. “I’m going to celebrate Christmas with you and Caroline at _her_ place. We need to make memories there. She doesn’t like it here. It’s too… small…” she settled. Too many bad memories. Caroline felt confined there. Like she outgrew it.

Katherine was feeling the same. Liz’s absence amplified the sentiment. Those conversations left a bitter taste in her mouth. Why was it she appreciated them now more than ever after Liz had left for good? Those reflections were now tarnished with a sour side effect, magnifying the obvious.

Caroline had taken the initiative. Even laxed up on Kol per his request. She’d still do her duty as a protective aunt to check in but she trusted him to hold his own, and to call her if he couldn’t. Now she was making the most of her freedom. She could travel freely, within limits. Nothing too far that would delay a response crucial time if Kol needed her intervention on short notice. Katherine lived vicariously through her articles. Caroline was doing Liz well by heeding her advice – extending her wings and appreciating the new memories.

Katherine was never one to beat around the bush. She knew she felt inclined one direction over the other; by end of year, she was certain her mind would be made.

“Kol, not now, but later… let’s talk. I think… I’m considering moving on, from here,” she amended. She knew the moment the words slipped he’d be furious. His brows furrowed and his lip coiled.

“What? No! Why would you endanger yourself like that??”

“The same reason I let you go to the university across the country without a fight,” she said confidently. “ _To grow_ ,” she simplified. “I was scared something could happen to you… I still do sometimes. Even with Care nearby. Nonetheless, I let you leave because you need to figure out this world on your own terms. That’s always been the case. I did my part and now, it’s time to move on. I’m not abandoning _you,_ ” she chuckled. “I just want to move away. Even closer to you,” she shrugged, laughing a little at the joke she made.

It went over his head.

“Something could happen to you!” He countered with a sour edge.

“That’s always a risk and you know what? Our favorite little blonde won’t let that happen.”

“Caroline is too busy looking after me!” Kol retorted. His hands sailed above his head in exasperation. “How can she look after both of us?”

“Who did you get your wit from? _Me!_ I have evaded much worse situations,” she explained matter-of-factly. “You and Care both have college education; you’re making roots; you have careers. I put my life on hold for far too long. It’s time I make the most of what time I have left – and I have a lot of it, don’t worry about that – and start _really living_.”

Kol scowled but reclined in defeat. He would respect her wishes.

“I’m worried about you,” he admitted.

“And I you,” she gleamed, “but that’s my job as a mother. You shouldn’t worry about me. I can handle myself. I’d like to spend these years with you, and Caroline, and maybe network out to make more friends like you have. I want to revisit the world, Kol, without having to look over my shoulder. I have advantages now. I think I should be able to get away with it. When I’m old and wrinkly then we can revisit this conversation, see what happens then, but I want to live like Liz did. She got married, raised her daughter, devoted herself to a purpose protecting the people she loved, and retired in great company. I want that, Kol. Not to be hiding and scared of my own shadow. I’m not a scared person and I’m tired of living like one.”

Kol had a difficult time digesting it but relented, nonetheless. She could see in his dark, brown eyes he struggled with those terms. He meant well. He was always looking out for her like that.

Much like Caroline, his protective instincts were sharp. He’d position himself in front of her, like a shield, whenever they were in groups. He never relinquished her hand as a child and as a teen, he insisted they loop elbows – like a gentleman would offer – just so she wouldn’t stray from sight. While most people his age sought out independence, he oddly enough relished being home. It wasn’t just the easy-going atmosphere, it was the company, and more importantly, his mom that kept him inside. He just wanted to savor the moments as if he knew her days were numbed.

“Realistically speaking, we’re going to be growing old together,” she laughed. “We’re basically the same age now.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he snorted. A slip of humor washed over his face. “You’re so vain sometimes.”

“I could pass as your sister,” she tormented, clicking her tongue. They really could, if the light was right.

“Stop, please,” he bowed his head onto the desk with a loud thud. “You’re embarrassing.”

“That’s my job!” She giggled. “Caroline said you’re going to visit tomorrow, right?”

“That’s the plan,” he said earnestly, scratching the back of his head. His eyes mellowed. “Is everything okay over there?”

“Same thing as yesterday, and the day before that… this town is too predictable. A great place to raise a family but not somewhere I’ll be happy forever in,” she admitted softly. “How about I visit you tomorrow instead? I can stay at Caroline’s in the meantime.”

“That’s a whole days drive and you don’t even have a car!”

“I’ll go the same way you go,” she winked.

His head tilted as he realized her hidden meaning. He uttered a low, gruff sigh when it struck him.

“You’re serious… you must be getting really stir crazy then…” he mused unhappily. “I really don’t like you leaving the safety of home but if you are determined...?”

They were cut from the same cloth. He got his independent nature from her and there was no convincing her otherwise. Stubborn to the bone. Yet, ironically, the other was determined to keep the other safe and tucked away somewhere, vehemently denying their own nature. Then again, their search for controlling the unknown was unparallel to Caroline’s overthinking-overpreparing tendencies. She was certified _neurotic_.

“Tomorrow, I want you here, no detours! I’ll show you around myself. I don’t want you getting lost and into a sticky situation.” He sounded just like her verbatim. He definitely absorbed some of her mannerisms – how could he not have? “After that, call Caroline and have her pick you up,” Kol instructed sternly. “I don’t want you alone. Also,” he softened, “she might appreciate the company. She’s been decorating like crazy. It’s obviously a distraction. She could use the conversation. Until I get there, that is. I’ll take over Caroline duty when I do,” he said jovially.

“No one can handle Caroline when she gets into planning but we try anyways,” Katherine chuckled along. “Let me deal with her. Focus on your studies. You promised Liz. Don’t let Caroline get her doctorate before you do,” she coaxed. She knew those two were competitive. So far, Caroline was content with her bachelor’s degree in Journalism, but Caroline always sought new ways to improve herself. Katherine wouldn’t be surprised if she went back to school for something else.

“Not happening,” Kol scoffed. He was only a few exams shy from his completing his advanced curriculum and he could say in full honesty he obtained a Masters. Next step, doctorate. Caroline was one master less than he but both knew she was a quick study. Just not as quick as he.

“I’ll let you go. It’s late and I want you in bed in two hours.”

He gaped. “I’m old enough to set my own bedtime,” he remarked.

“Apparently not since you are depriving yourself of sleep,” she countered haughtily. “Don’t make me send Caroline over there.”

He paled. He knew she would. She’s done it before.

“Why,” he lamented.

“Because you are my child and I love you and I want nothing but the best for you,” she sang. “I promised you in a past life I would look after you. You agreed to these terms.”

“I don’t recall any of these terms,” he objected in a higher pitch. “I have no recollection of this!”

“Ignorance will not negate these conditions,” she shook her head as she spoke. “Have I ever lied to you?”

“A couple times, when I was a kid,” he pondered. _Little white lies – fillers until he was old enough to comprehend the truth_.

“Which I amended when you grew older and started asking deeper questions. I’ve fixed those mistakes,” she easily absolved herself of the minor accusation. It was in their nature to playfully banter; it’s how they kept their wit sharp.

“Speaking of past life…” he said in a sudden change of tune, falling more somber. His eyes grew dark and he casted his gaze lower, avoiding her own. “I have been remembering some things…”

“Huh?” Katherine jolted back, visibly startled by his admissions. She tried her best to relax her posture. “What do you mean? Are you okay? Do you want to go over it? Or would you rather discuss it with Caroline?” Depending on who he was asking about… Klaus was Caroline’s authority – Katherine didn’t trust herself not to let her own bias show whenever his name was implied.

When he was around eleven, the flashes of faces and jests tormented him. He’d be reliving split moments of his previous life, recalling faces he had not seen in years, never in the present. It confused him, terrified him even, because the most unsettling feeling buried itself in his gut. He always clung to her afterwards, afraid she’d let go – she would never but his little hand left bruises on her neck from squeezing too hard. She dared not say a word or make a complaint. He needed the reassurance more than she needed release. Those triggering memories though, no matter how quick, always seemed to undo a glimmer of progress they made.

Katherine recalled how Caroline seethed when Kol was distraught over the fact he felt forgotten. Somewhere dark and lonely and unloved, he described it the best way a thirteen-year-old could. Rudimentary feelings for a much graver reality.

She nearly smothered him with love, holding him close to her chest and promising she’d never let that happen to him. _Again?_ He asked meekly. _You shouldn’t have suffered it in the first place,_ she growled lowly. Gods help whoever might inflict that terrible memory onto him again. Caroline would sooner rip out their throat – and she could with ease; she would. They rocked like that outside the back door, swallowed by the twilight. Katherine would follow suit, waiting until he slept before she left his bedside. It was terrible feeling alone. She hated he felt it so strongly, even for a split second, when they did their damned best to surround him with light and love and everything they found in their little haven outside the cruel world.

Alone. The awful, sinking sentiment overcame her as of late. Caroline and Kol were a call away but it wasn’t the same. She needed to be near them again; to be near life, light, laughter – everything that came with them. The happier times in that cottage had expired; it served its purpose. She needed to be with them; not left behind under the guise of safety. It went against their pact. Even if it was temporary.

“Who was the blonde one again…?”

“Klaus or… Rebekah…” Katherine mumbled, unsure who he meant.

“Rebekah…” he repeated, a distant glaze over his eyes. “Is it wrong I want to know about them?”

“No,” Katherine answered. “It’s natural and it was a part of your life. Not the most pleasant part but a big part. If you want to explore the past, you have to be aware the discoveries you make might not be ones you like.”

“Would they really kill me?” Kol asked softer than ever.

Would they? Katherine debated internally. They had no problem silencing him and locking up him until dust covered his casket. He was conveniently undead, easy to subdue with a dagger. He was mortal now – would they take the opportunity and kill him to save themselves whatever perceived trouble they projected onto him? Or would they confine him, as they did last time, until his frail mortal state gave way. Or would they attempt to extend his life infinitely? Would it even work??

“… Maybe. Your relationship was volatile. You… remember how we said Caroline was like how you used to be…? A vampire but a stronger one? You couldn’t be killed unless it was a-”

“White oak stake,” Kol interjected.

“But they could dagger you into a deep sleep. You spent most of your time like that. They couldn’t control you and you refused to abide by their rules.”

“Was I really that bad?”

“No worse than them,” Katherine consoled. “Klaus and Elijah… they liked to dictate the rules and you refused to abide by their hypocrisy. You paid the price for rebelling countless times. You weren’t given freedom; not like now. You wanted to be freed. You didn’t want to die but you did. You told them the cure would have catastrophic results and they threatened to silence you; the doppelganger killed you instead. A stupid cure was more valuable than your own life.”

Her bitterness filtered through. He knew her history with the cure. How it had been forced upon her. How she died regardless. A miserable, unnecessary death. A cure which went to waste. Countless lives ruined and waste, not just her own. 

“I remember the fire,” Kol nodded.

“I hoped you didn’t,” Katherine cringed. Caroline remembered it vividly, the after math of his charred corpse, and when she heard he saw it, too, in his dreams, she nearly crumbled on the spot – as if reliving the memory herself.

It hurt to know he relived that, even if it was a mere glimmer. “They put people in boxes. Who can be controlled and who can’t? Who can be disposed of now or later? Kol, they aren’t be trusted, and given your current state, you don’t have the advantage Caroline has. A simple snap the neck means a certain end for you. No third chance. No reincarnation. Nothing. Your curiosity is natural but you shouldn’t be seeking them out. It just spells trouble. They’ll catch wind of it and next thing you know, we have your entire toxic family looking for you to drag you back into their twisted box.”

“Are they incapable of remorse?”

Katherine pondered. Caroline may argue Klaus could be redeemed but the blonde was an exception. She was the undeniable object of his affection; favored by bias and beguiled by his efforts to earn her good grace. Once he accomplished that, would he revert back to his horrific ways? Katherine would never be so lucky. He once charmed her, too. Then he used her. She made a fool out of him, surviving him, and he lived to punish her.

Elijah was fickle and she learned personally even he wasn’t above delivering blows. He’d always chose Klaus, even above his own family, as Kol illuminated in his death.

Rebekah and Finn were two very different sides of the same coin – one came back time and time again like a child who didn’t know better, which in a way she was, and the other was dead set to run as far as he possibly could with no inclination to prove himself for his family’s favor. Finn’s death seemed to be glossed over, scarcely missed.

“They are people of habit and full of arrogance. Admitting mistakes is not in their nature. It’s not a family you want to entangle yourself in because you won’t come out unscathed,” she whispered defeatedly. She rested her cheek on her palm. “Be a rebel, Kol. We won’t punish you for it. Not like they did.”

“I wouldn’t describe myself as a rebel,” Kol softly chuckled, defusing the heavy atmosphere with an attempt of humor.

“If you’re curious, it’s okay to ask.”

“I feel like so many pieces of the puzzle are missing…”

“Then go to the sources. You have the means. Your magic is linked to your mother from another life. Not that I’d bother reviving her given she was the main element of dysfunction in that family but if there is a family tree, it could help understand the roots of your abilities. I suppose we can take that venture together. I’m not a witch but I could see if our Fae friends would intercede on our behalf,” she offered.

He was caught in a debate as the silence carried over.

“Kol, what you want is closure. You may not remember your past life all too vividly but it’s just under the surface, pushing up. It wants to be acknowledged but you willed yourself to forget for a reason. It’s in your nature to remember because you thrive on knowing as much information you can get your hands on and, in the past, you held grudges. I wonder if that carried over, if that’s why you feel compelled to remember the terrible things that happened to you.” Katherine continued. “You were angry for your entire life and died angry. You clung to Caroline like I did because she’s bubbly and warm. She’s everything we wanted but could never have. I remember standing in the void confused why’d you rather be in our company than seek out your family? You were like Finn – you wanted an excuse to get away but you didn’t want to settle for death. You wanted to live – just without them holding you back. Kol, you were even willing to rid yourself of your prized Original Status! You wanted to cut all ties. Start anew. And then these visions pop up and make you second guess yourself. You want closure for the wrongs that happened in the past because it’s your nature to never leave loose ends or unanswered questions but maybe, trust your gut, and leave this alone; if not, prepare yourself for the worst.”

“I’m sorry,” she uttered. She rubbed her temples in an effort to soothe herself. “I’m overwhelming you. If you want another perspective, ask Caroline. I’m far from forgiving. I… still have bias. I have plenty of bias. I loved you from the day you kicked and I will always be on your team and your team only. That means everyone that ever hurt you rightfully earned my distrust. I don’t have the capacity to look the other way. I know them personal. Klaus is… Klaus is vindictive and Elijah is fickle; they only have their own interests at heart and damn everyone else.” She rubbed her face, feeling tired suddenly.

“I wish you were little so I could tell you it was all a lie, or a bad dream, and I could make it all go away. I can’t though.”

“I don’t want you to,” Kol said calmly. She looked up to see him perk up a bit, even flash a subtle smile. “You kept your promise, even if I don’t remember it. These stories of how horrible they were… they’re just stories. I can settle with that. I’m content with the fact I remember you and Caroline being the opposite. Grandma Liz was another person that came along to make it better. We can’t undo the past but we can learn from it; to do better, right?” Kol spoke with certainty.

“Yes,” she agreed with an assertive nod.

He yawned.

“I think you’re onto something about closure,” Kol theorized. “Anyways, I’m taking your advice and going to bed soon. I need to catch up on sleep.”

“Good. I love you, Kol.”

“I love you more, Mom.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promised.

“Okay,” he croaked. The book on his desk slammed shut and he weakly waved to the camera. “Get some sleep, too, okay? Jet leg is real,” he teased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update since I looked at the reviews and realized I made a big oopsies! Damn my lack of planning. There is NO method to my madness. 
> 
> I promise Caroline isn’t acting OOC. I just screwed up my timeline so lots of in between things happens that haven’t been addressed. 
> 
> Without spoiling it, I’ll clue you in to what may be behind her callousness with Klaus. 
> 
> If Kol forfeited 1000 years of power for the sake of restarting at a human point, and Caroline was told she’d have to collect the other 1000 years worth of darkness to ensure she’d be strong enough for the job, there will likely be huge side effects when someone like her takes on so much emotional baggage that isn’t her own. Especially with so much violence, betrayal, bitterness - you name it. Kol didn’t really have the capacity to confront that trauma and dysfunction, so it haunts - and unfortunately now Caroline is charged with dealing with all that emotional chaos. (Oof, I may have just given it away). 
> 
> The Fae are bastards and tend to leave out a few crucial details when they make deals. Caroline unfortunately is still figuring out she has more to burden than just Kol or Katherine’s well being.
> 
> As to what, I plan to write an in depth conversation between her and Kat to explain why she’s prone to moments of cynicalism whenever Kol is vulnerable. It’s connected. There’s a particular trigger I’m going to illuminate later. 
> 
> Trust me. I may be messy in my writing (of) but I do have a plan and plenty of emotions to sift through. Bear with me. 
> 
> Second hint if you want someone more on the nose : maybe Caroline’s reactions aren’t really her own. Hmmmm.
> 
> P.S   
> I still have to proof read this mess of a draft. Lmao. I can’t be counted on for ish.


	3. Bergen, P2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stefan confronts Caroline. Caroline is given an ultimatum by an old friend. Decisions are made and revelations are affirmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oofda, that was a trip. I spent all day recycling sad tracks and have to get into a sappy mindset for some of these scenes. Then push through the rest to get to my favorite tid bit. 
> 
> Again - laziness - I did not fully proof read and will have to revisit to get all the missed kinks worked out. 
> 
> 1) revisiting the speculation why Caroline is so harsh   
> 1.5) because the Fae can be conniving little you know what's   
> 2) Poor Caroline!!   
> 2.5) POOR STEFAN - OUCH. (You'll see why). 
> 
> 3) Bring on another Original. Someone may be coming to town.   
> 4) My Fae are like Spiders - out of sight, don't mind them - until I do see one and then it disappears. Psychological warfare.

Bergen, Norway

Given old quickly darkness blanketed the city, Caroline was accustomed to retiring early. A cup of tea or coco was her usual company alongside a book, she preferred to lounge in main area because the view was too beautiful of a background for her to dismiss. The lights peeking through windows like lanterns; warm colors of various decorations strung about outshone the seeping bleak grayness of a bitter winter; the people here were resilient and optimistic – and it showed. Caroline liked to appreciate the beauty of their whimsical homes they graciously shared with passing eyes.

She settle onto the couch, draped with a fine throw and propped her elbow on the pillow as she skimmed the pages of her latest curiosity. She liked history, travel, and romantic endeavors – the kind of ramblings that enticed one’s imagination. It was the closest she’d get for now to expanding her horizons but, so far, she had a long-winded bucket list her evening reads inspired.

The lack of Rome, Paris, and Tokyo apparatus in her vast collection were apparent. She didn’t have the heart to punish herself. Katherine had called her out on it before, called her a hypocrite for learning the language, but refusing to indulge further. _Why are you going against Liz’s wishes? She would have wanted you to go._

_I have to be here,_ Caroline quickly dismissed. It was her default excuse. She had a duty to fulfilled, sure, and she was dedicated to see it through but there was more to it. They both know.

_I feel like Klaus ruined it for me,_ the blonde confided in her one time. She opted for harder liquor opposed to fine wine; a terrible mistake because she usually vomited unsettling truths that Katherine never neglected to remind her of time and time again. The doppelganger meant well, like a pushy-mentor, similar to Stefan, but Katherine wasn’t gentle in the slightest. She was a pusher. In the past Caroline could have appreciated her vigor but not so much now.

_I can’t even think about it anymore without thinking of him, and when I think of him…_ Caroline teetered off into a heavy silence. _I want to appreciate this!_ She imploded, slapping the book of Paris Katherine gifted her onto the couch cushion beside. _I want all of it! I should have all of it! But then, I think of Klaus, and when I think of Klaus, I think terrible things, and these aren’t my thoughts! I don’t want to hate – never could bring myself to – but then Kol asks those questions and I’m overcome with these awful emotions that keep me captive. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why! But it doesn’t change the fact it happens! And then I start wondering what will happen when I do go and then I start thinking of him again, and my entire view of the city will be ruined because I can’t think of anything else but how much I **hate** him. _

_Sad thing is, I don’t blame him,_ Caroline swallowed painfully. _I should! If everything I feel is my genuine self, then something deep down in my soul tells me I detest him._

_It’s not your genuine self_ , Katherine consoled. The testament surprised Caroline.

_The Fae screwed you, Caroline_. Katherine told it as it was. _You’re too good for this world. They tainted you with a thousand years of darkness which consumed Kol’s entire existence and neglected to tell you the terrible side effects that came with that They expected you to be strong enough to handle emotions that have even Kol couldn’t get a grip on it. Caroline, you’re strong, but its perfectly understandable you can’t handle that kind of stress or grief or whatever it was that possessed him for a millennium. It’s a trigger. Any semblance of the past prompts this instinctual response that’s not your own. It’s a darkness that I’m surprised hasn’t consumed you yet. You have moments, when Kol is at his lowest point. You act like you’re an extension of his previous self. You speak through his lens, not yours. You’re dealing with **his** deeply suppressed emotions and it’s too much, even for you. _

The faint glow of candles flickered in tinted, glass hurricanes meant to amplify the relaxing ambience could not calm her mind like she had hoped. She couldn’t tolerate the bright backdrop lighting overhead her kitchen or second story landing. The intimate lighting was mellow and warm, mimicking a Period Drama she shamelessly binged whenever she was out of sorts. Rather than a soothing scene where the heroine rediscovers herself, the subtle lighting reminded Caroline of the ominous part where the heroine uncovers a dark secret.

Her optimism seemed bleak as she still couldn’t shake herself of the anxiety. Her pristine hearing steered towards another direction, hoping to quell her nerves by affirming what she could manage. 

Katherine was sound asleep in her bedroom upstairs, just like old times. It had become not just a thing of safety but a habit of comfort for the ladies to sleep in the same bed; sometimes, when Kol was younger (and tinier), he’d be smushed in between like a sandwich. Katherine was easily exhausted and spending the day parading Oslo in the plummeting cold had burned her out.

Caroline redirected herself to the task on hand: she needed to distract herself. She selected an older magazine gushing about New Zealand’s thrills. It wasn’t purposeful – just something she put off and now seemed like a good time to skim over the issue.

Much to her chagrin, lush green photos and heavenly peaks did little to mute her chaotic thoughts.

_Kol’s been having visions again,_ Katherine had confided out of his earshot. The news shook Caroline, enough to stop her in her tracks. It certainly wasn’t the wind that spurred a chill in her bone. Her hand clenched and she forced herself to breathe upon realizing she had stopped altogether. _I thought he’d ask you questions but he hasn’t. I wanted to say something just in case he did later._

_Oh…_ was all she could muster. She was anticipating the worst. Yet, he never did. He bid them goodbye without even so much mentioning it to Caroline. Why was it she always tensed whenever he pondered his past? He was well within his right to seek answers. That’s what they were there for.

She was thankful he didn’t impose. She should feel guilty that he didn’t come to her when she made it known she would help him any way she could but she couldn’t deny the relief that settled in her chest when she figured she was spared. She could save herself from the emotional bile that always came after. Like wine on an empty stomach or sour milk, she could already anticipate the sickness churning in her stomach. She always felt physically ill whenever those awful emotions began to bubble up.

It wasn’t natural. It was impossible to digest. It festered like a wound, if Caroline had to put it in words. Like an infection that lingers and left her out of sorts.

_Kol couldn’t either,_ Katherine inputted. _Imagine suppressing all those ugly emotions for that long. Imagine being punished for feeling those things and having the audacity to lash back. No one wins. Behind his sick, twisted humor and impulses, behind all that, was someone who suffered and was desperate to be seen. Imagine dealing with that on a daily basis. He couldn’t trust his own kin, if at any given moment, they deem him a liability because they couldn’t function like a normal fucking family. They don’t talk it out; they shut it away in the most convenient fashion possible._

Caroline couldn’t put herself in his shoes. Sure, she and her mom had some distance between them until push came to shove. Her mom was still there. They still stood thick and skin. They didn’t shut each other out anymore. They grew. Kol never got that. He and the others just… hardened in the face of the terrible circumstances imposed upon them; it was the only way to survive. None of them truly _lived_. Or loved, not as freely or as unconditionally as the should’ve.

Rebekah tried but she was locked away when her heart wandered. Elijah was tugged back to his brother’s side because any doubt of loyalty was severely punished. Finn only got so far before he was dragged back, made an example of, and forced to long for a love that he only got to taste. Kol was scapegoated. Allowed only so much freedom before he was accused to be too much trouble to leave unsupervised; then he, too, was shoved away until his rebellious nature was exploited for whatever scheme his family concocted.

_Why was she thinking this way?_ _She barely knew their family!_ The closest she got for insight came from Katherine who had witness the power play between the elder brothers first-hand, or whatever narrative Klaus set – and the fact she was beginning to doubt his honestly now when she keenly remembered she felt differently before was enough to send her flying. She hated the dissonance between then and now; what was real and what was imagined; what was hers and what wasn’t. They were blurring together and she felt like she was losing herself whenever the past collided with the present, like things weren’t lining right and wedged together for the worse. She was beginning to wonder what was authentic and what was warped.

She resorted to a trick she thought helpful. This new life of hers – her resurrection – was full of redemption. That’s how she saw it. She saw herself given a chance to make wrongs right, or the few she could. Kol was one of them. It was easier to meet him in the eyes and see a clear slate; big, brown eyes looking up with her without an ounce of content held against her. It wasn’t by design – or maybe it was – but not of her own construction. No, she put in the work from the moment he took his first breath to follow through with her vows.

Kol was someone she did right the second time. This poor boy, who’s memories and muddle of emotions she unknowingly bundled within her own self, was someone she knew needed love. Love she had ample amounts of. She would smother him with it to compensate for her past wrongdoings.

He may have been Katherine’s heart but he was Caroline’s soul. Literally. The bulk of it was warped within her own, engulfing it. But she wasn’t talking the tainted parts he unknowingly forfeited in exchange for a new beginning. She was thinking about her boy. A curious child who lived with reckless abandon, always in the pursuit of the unknown, and eager to take their hand because he didn’t want to leave them behind.

That’s who he was from the beginning, she theorized. If he willfully returned to a point in time, where he was just a mere mortal no older than themselves when they, too, transitioned, then he wouldn’t have been tainted with the resentment she felt so intensely now whenever he spoke of the years he couldn’t recall. The fact the boy they knew and nourished was there along; the fact he had been conditioned into the vengeful corpse that died as he lived propelled Caroline forward in a fit an unprecedented fury.

There it was again – her intense need to protect. He was safe and sound, she assured himself. She had twenty-five years to account for, doing just as she sworn to do.

Memories flickered like the candle, offering a new kind of warmth similar to that of a blanket wrapping her body. A child’s voice calling out to her in excitement, waving her along when she spied his head pop above the grove; his breath on her shoulder as she coddled him to sleep following a rough episode which he hated himself for not getting a spell right after the hundredth time; his eager ramblings on their walks home, sharing his latest endeavor and success at school; the smile lined with powdered sugar he shamelessly shared with the rest of table.

Happy memories. Carefree laughter. Warm hands. _Breathe in. Breathe out._ Unconditional love. Safety in hugs. Feet flying off the ground, spinning, squealing... _Inhale. Exhale. Repeat_. Gentle voices. Even breaths. Names called out into the open like a saving grace.

_I’m so proud of you_. Her mother’s voice gave way to her own. _I’m so proud of you_.

_Really?_ Two young voices return in sync.

_You are everything to me._

Wash it away. There’s no need to linger on the ugliness. Let the anger dissipate. Let the resentment recede like waves, return to the greater unknown she’ll never venture to. Too deep, too cold. Best to stay safe on the shore, wet your toes, and don’t mourn heavy hems – they’ll dry later like shed tears; they never stay.

_Why are I crying? I’m stronger than this!_

_It’s okay to cry. You’re grieving. Even the strongest of people are allowed to feel._

She was weighed by the image of her mother comforting her when she, herself, was bedbound and frail in every sense. Her hand was warm despite all signs pointing to irreversible organ failure. Caroline could barely see through the tears. Her visions was starting to double and she could taste the salt on her lips as tears spilled onto her cheeks. It was futile to wipe them away. They would only be replaced with me. Her eyes kept brimming, pooling over.

Kol’s hand rubbing circles on her back as she whimpered over Liz’s body once the machines were silence. Katherine hovering nearby, tendrils seeping over Caroline’s shoulders as she tried to not lean on her, but make her support known. 

_Why am I crying? It’s not going to change anything!_

_It’s okay to cry. It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t feel anything. We should show it without shame._

It was Caroline’s turn to console Kol then. In the safety of a small room off to the side, away from prying eyes with the curtains closed. His eyes glistened and he turned to her seeking permission. She hated that look. He shouldn’t need affirmation to express his grief. She opened her arms and pulled him in, allowing him a strong shoulder to tremble into. He was much quieter than she when his threshold broke, muffled by her sweater. His hands clutched the material and she knew it’d be able to withstand the grip. They rocked like that for a while.

_Feel better?_ She asked. Her hand held up his head, and then curled around his cheek – wiping away the excess moisture. She was sure her eyes were almost has ridden as his. It was hard to not cry when the child you raise falls apart in your arms; mourning the same woman they loved with equal measure. She needed to validate his feelings, make it known she didn’t shame him for being vulnerable. He wouldn’t be conditioned to hold it in, to hurt himself unnecessary.

_I feel like I haven’t cried in a long time. It was… I feel… lighter._

_Good. Don’t weigh yourself down trying to fight what’s inside you. Don’t deny yourself._

It was her turn to take up her mother’s mantle. She could do it. She promised her. She would be the pillar of the family. The dutiful protector. The cushion to soften all the blows. She could handle the emotional turmoil. She was stronger than that. 

Even if Kol didn’t know the extent of the damage or the consequences of their initial deal, she wouldn’t burden him with it. It wasn’t his anymore. He relinquished that part of his life, the good and the bad. She was the one to accept those terms. He didn’t ask her of that – the Fae did.

He didn’t know the caliber of strength it took to part with the very thing he clung to for so long; he made a decision to part with it – all of it – and Caroline was going to honor his choice. It was a decision made for the better and Caroline had the caliber of character, the pillar of strength that she believed herself to be, to handle what he couldn’t.

_You don’t have to do that, Caroline,_ Katherine insisted upon realizing Caroline intended to face the battle of Kol’s unaddressed trauma on her own. Another night, another fine whiskey. She had battled another onslaught of nasty emotions when Kol asked her about Elena.

She thought, given her own experience, the hate she felt would be genuine. The wound no longer existed on her body but the scar in her memory was sore as ever. Yet… she was impressed with herself. She commanded her own body to bite back the bile and pause the words desperate to spew out. The rotten, visceral reaction was too quick, too muddled for it to be her own.

This session wasn’t as bad. Kol wasn’t a child anymore; she didn’t react as viscerally as she had when he was an impressionable boy or emotionally confused teen. He was an adult now, rationalizing his thoughts, and heeding her advice to go through the motions of his foreign feelings that came on so suddenly. Not as strong as her own reactions but enough to stun him for a moment. She was starting to manage herself, biting back the bile, and coping through positive memories to counteract the negative ones. She was determined to figure it out and where there was a will, there was a way, and Caroline was the best possible example of that.

_I do_ , Caroline pressed ahead. _The good and the bad. Thick and thin. It goes hand in hand. I should have anticipated complications when they handed me thousands of years of power. I was taking on the pain, too. They entrusted me with that. I’m Caroline Forbes. I am the beacon of control and humanity. This is my next big trial and just like everything else, I’ll overcome it._

She flashed her winning smile and raised a toast. Katherine reluctantly joined.

_Caroline Forbes shouldn’t have to take on everyone’s burden,_ the brunette interjected sternly. _She has help._

_I know,_ she acknowledged with a tight squeeze of the hand. _When it comes to this, these emotions, I don’t have choice. It’s too late to take it back. What’s done is done. I just have to roll with the punches and rise to be the champion they intend me to be, and if they expect me to fail,_ she declared defiantly, _I’ll prove those Fae fuckers wrong._

_I’ll toast to that! To prove those Fae fuckers wrong!_ Katherine hollered, enticed by Caroline’s contagious confidence.

BREAK

She felt confident Katherine was safe inside. No one else had an invite in and she knew the Fae had eyes everywhere. Their intuition usually came in clutch in the few occasions Caroline was caught off guard.

Caroline had to venture out or else her thoughts would devour her whole. They were growing so loud she suspected a migraine was on the horizon. She couldn’t let that happen. She needed a fresh breath of air. Never mind the cold, she could survive it for a couple minutes.

She was slipping again. How many times has she declared to Katherine she had it under wraps? It was a façade. _No, it was a work in progress_ , Caroline amended in her head. She was not a quitter. Katherine spoke some truth: the emotions were powerful.

Caroline had thought since she underwent similar motions in various stages of her life, she’d be better prepared, but her strife seemed like ripples compare to the pounding tides against ships and shore alike, capable of shattering bones. A thunderstorm deafened in contrast to a battering hurricane. Teenage angst and a girl’s heartbreak was nothing like being systematic beaten down to a shell of one’s self, left solely in the company of their worst moments to drive them ahead. Pure spite. Too much was a terrible thing. 

Donning her coat, and not much else besides her hat, she bore the brunt the cold. The wind wasn’t as fierce and she could savor the crisp smell of pine and sea breeze that carried overhead. Her hair wisped off her shoulders, exposing her cheeks to the chill. She ignored the sting as she hastily exited the confines of her home.

The soft snow padded streets muffled her steps and the echo of roaring seas miles away averted her focus elsewhere. Her breathe materialized in the air like a ghost. She halted her steps and glanced left of her. A chill in the air – but it wasn’t the weather. Her eyes tried to detect movement but they must have been aware she caught onto them.

Her hearing acutely heard the echo of a breath – not her own. A skid of a step, someone who didn’t take heed to watch the ice under their step. A microscopic crack caving under someone’s weight; the sharp ripple amplified by the winter theater. Had it been a resident, she would not heed them as she had, but the lack of heartbeat was another thing.

Her eyes narrowed in one corner where blackness obstructed her view. It was too narrow of a strip for her distinguish shadows.

“Hey!” She sharply commanded. The air stilled as her voice dominated the atmosphere. “I know you’re there! What? You want to act shy now? I’m not in the mood to play your dumb games! Step out to where I can see you!”

She was still riding her emotional high; easily triggered and tense. Her defenses were on edge. Violent scenarios flashed with a vengeance. She would not be someone she’d like the meet under these circumstances. She also didn’t like she was caught off guard. She couldn’t allow herself to slip any more than she already has.

“You don’t want me to catch you because I can and then I’ll be mad,” she threatened. “I can! Don’t think I won’t! If you mess up my boots, you’re going to regret it!”

BREAK

That was Caroline. There was no doubt in his mind about it. The way she carried herself; her fashion; the way her curls fell loosely to frame her face.

But something was different, too. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

He was surprised she caught him retreating so soon. He was so close of evading her radar after she made an unexpected move to leave her home. He was moving out of sight before the door closed on her heel. He wasn’t quite ready from a confrontation after a new wave of questions purged his mind. She had spent the evening with another familiar face. Someone else he vividly remembered. She was supposed to be dead. _The real kind of dead_.

What were they doing together? How’d they escape the veil? The way they interacted suggested a deep friendship.

No sooner than did he make a turn down a narrow stretch of road, she caught him. Stefan was compromised.

But he wasn’t a coward. And he certainly wasn’t scared of Caroline.

He would forever immortalize into memory the way her face contorted from something ferocious to utter surprise when he stepped under the streetlamp. Blue-green eyes wide with what he swore was fright. Mouth agape from sheer shock. She wasn’t expecting him.

“Stefan,” she declared. Her brows furrowed and stiffened, as if to prepare herself.

“Caroline,” he returned in a softer turn. His head was bent low, meek almost. She was supposed to be dead. He had played a part in that. Guilt was consuming him from the inside out. He had to face her answers.

But not after she answered his. Locking his jaw and meeting her eyes, he widened his arms out on either side as if the cue the conversation. All cards out on the table. They bounced off his hip when he dropped them from their suspended state.

“How’d you find me?” she demanded. Her voice was edgy. Her eyes were narrowed and accusatory. This was no warm welcome he had hoped for.

“How are you alive?” he countered. He didn’t mean to talk down to her as if she was a baby vampire under his wing needing a reprimanding but it certainly sounded that way.

“Did you tell anyone?” She snarled. She stepped forward with authority. Her steps were assertive.

“No,” he replied earnestly. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. I didn’t want to jump on blind faith. I’ve had enough disappointments in one lifetime. So… it’s really you…”

“Stefan, what are you doing?” She demanded, circling him. Something was off about her. Predatory. Long gone was his beloved friend; something else possessed her. She was defensive and Stefan contemplated if she was really willing to turn on him. If she hadn’t sought him out and evidently recognized him, was there a more insidious reason for her intentional absence?

He could take her on if need be. He was older. He had the advantage of strength to pin her down. He didn’t want a fight. He just wanted illumination on what he couldn’t make sense of.

“How are you alive?” He demanded with more assertion. “You died!”

“I know! You were there!” She spat back with vitriol he couldn’t fathom coming from her. There was undeniable anger behind each syllable. “You left me there! You ran after Elena! And to what, comfort her? I watched you from the other side!”

His blood ran cold. “You… you really died. How did you…”

“Why are coming for me after all these years? Why would you? How did you even know I was here?” She commanded, breaching his space. They did not touch but he could feel the boiling point of her anger.

“I… I have no excuse,” he bowed his head. “I went after Elena. I was hoping to get through to her…”

“You really think she’s worth redeeming at this point? It’s always been about her! She’s gets it so easy because you coddle the Hell out of her. News flash: she’s not innocent! Humanity or no humanity! She isn’t without consequences!”

Something flashed in both their eyes: for Stefan, it was ire. Ire for her accusation. Ire for her ignorance of the price Elena paid. Ire for the suffering his brother subjected himself to just to protect her; a sacrifice Caroline seemed to be unaware of.

“Even Klaus! You two hovered of me and had the balls to tell my mom you’d fix it. You never did, did you? _She was miserable!_ ” She snarled. It was so unbecoming of her, to see her undone and so full of disdain. “I’m just another prop for your never-ending drama,” she growled under her breath. “I’m the one watching the whole scene play and I have the mourn my own damn death because everyone else is too busy trying to shelter poor Elena from the terrible news. As if she didn’t do it her damn self.”

“You’re angry and you have every right to be…”

“Pitiful,” she bore sharp teeth, nearly nicking his neck. “I gave you too many damn chances. I paid the ultimate price for my naivety. My own friends left me for dead.”

“That’s why you never came back…? Because you felt betrayed by us…?”

“I ‘felt’ betrayed…? _Felt?_ I _was_ betrayed, Stefan. I’m dead. You can’t undo that.”

“Apparently you can. You’re here. In the flesh,” Stefan contradicted matter-of-factly. He met her cold eyes. “How?” She was so close he could lift his fingers and touch the hem of her sleeves. Her fisted hands would not allow his to make an effort. The moment his finger pinched the hem, she pulled them back like a whip.

“Not any of your business,” she threw back like hot ashes.

“Or Katherine,” Stefan seconded, making the bold choice to step forward. She stepped back to keep their distance. She didn’t want them brushing fabric. “She’s alive. Both of you. How?”

“Don’t ask questions that’ll get you killed. You already know more than you should,” she warned gravely.

“You’ll kill me?” Stefan challenged. “Why? What are you protecting?”

“Don’t make me compel answers out of you,” Caroline threatened.

“As if you could. You aren’t an Original.”

Something in her icy eyes didn’t sit well with him. She bore into him with cold calculation. It was reminiscent of Klaus or Elijah, the way they anticipated their moves. She didn’t flinch or rebuff Stefan in her usual fashion. She just kept staring, eyes unwavering, and he felt an itch to look away. He fought it off with all his might and defied instinct.

“I’m going to ask one more time. How did you find me and who else knows?” she commanded with upmost authority.

“Last year at Liz’s grave. Is that why she came here? Because you were?”

“Who. Else. Knows.”

“No one but me. I didn’t want to jinx it.”

“Are you on vervain?”

“What…? No!”

He bellowed a curse when she took hold of his arm and bit into it, pulling blood. His instinct was to pull away but she was too strong and too swift. Content by the lack of pain burning her throat, she wiped the blood lining her lips with her coat sleeve. A solid resolution cold as stone claimed her eyes.

“This will be easy then. Tell me who else knows,” she repeated. Her eyes bore into his own, as if reading his mind. Suddenly, with frightening realization, Stefan knew he was being compelled. _How_ – his thought couldn’t even finish.

“Who else knows about your discovery,” she commanded once more.

“Damon but he doesn’t believe me,” he choked.

He tried to jolt away but her hands around his arms kept him restrained. He wiggled to no avail. He could feel his bones bend painfully to her will. Her fingers cut through his coat and into his flesh, prompting blood to stain his sleeves.

“How’d you find me?”

“I followed you from your mom’s grave. I saw your name at some community center. I went from there.”

“Damnit,” she hissed, releasing him in a fit of frustration. He was thrown back into an old stone wall. The impact stunned him. The brick cracked under the sudden pressure. “Damon, really? The first guy you tell is the one who’s sole interest is to keep Elena’s head on her shoulders? What do you think he’d do if he believed you? That all is forgiven? Use your freaking head, Stefan!”

“He’s been running for his life since you died! If you’re alive, he doesn’t need to run any more…”

“Says who? Really?” She ostracized. “That’s your primary motive? Not to apologize or make amends but use me once again to save your pathetic excuse of a brother? How many messes of his are you going to clean up? Or hers?”

“He’s my brother…”

“Who ran off with your ex-girlfriend and left you high and dry when shit got tough,” she threw back with every intent to wound his pride. She stalked ahead. “Let me tell you how this really goes. Damon may think I’m alive and wants to take out his frustration on the source of his misery: me. I’m dead and now suddenly I’m not and he’s spent his entire time from then and now looking over his shoulder. He wants to blame someone and that’s me. That’s how his warped mind works. The moment he gets word I’m alive, one of us is going to have to kill the other. That’s how it plays out. No reprieve. No forgiveness. No happy ending.”

“You’d kill Damon,” Stefan repeated in disbelief. “You’d really do.”

“Elena, too. They never could be away from each other,” she callously replied. The winter seemed mild in contrast to the coldness he felt in her words.

“You changed.”

“Is that supposed to insult me? I have no loyalty to you after what you and Damon did; what Elena did,” she growled, casting a hand side like a dismissive wave. “You come here thinking once again I’ll put aside my own feelings, pretending I wasn’t disposable to you, to save your brother’s and lover’s behinds after the mess they made for themselves. Not again,” she hissed.

“How’d you compel me?” Stefan demanded. “You can’t do that!”

“I can and I can do other things, too,” she challenged. Her hand dug into his shoulders. “What I’m going to do next is merciful in comparison to what may happen to either your brother or Elena should either one make the mistake of coming after me.” He trembled in her grip, too weak to escape her clutches. He couldn’t fathom how that was possible.

Her eyes began to dilate, never breaking with his. “You came here on a hunch but are disappointed I’m not the girl you’re looking for. It was a false lead and you’re going to apologize for mistaking me for someone you know for a fact to be dead. You’re going to relay this to your brother; you’ll tell him it was false hope and that I – the uncanny stranger you followed – will not be part of this. Repeat after me: Caroline Forbes is dead. Katherine is dead. Bergen is a bust. You’re going to go home and never come back here.”

“Why are you so lenient with him?”

“Excuse me?” Caroline decreed, facing their third visitor with alarm.

She was small, no more than five feet. Piercing green eyes that seemed too big for her angular face. Strands of dark hair fell out of her hat and scarf.

“He’s a liability, is he not?”

“No, he’s not – I can compel him to forget,” Caroline insisted. “I just did!” There was a nervous tick in her voice. Her eyes flitter from one to the other. 

He was coming to. Why was this stranger who looked so much like Caroline keeping him hostage?

“He’s been following you for a year. He’s seen Katherine. What’s to say he hasn’t already complicated matters? Make an example out of him,” she declared.

“No,” Caroline refuted. “I haven’t had to kill anyone since I came here. I don’t want to start now! He doesn’t know anything now!”

“He can’t run wild,” the little woman barked back.

“How long have you been watching me?” Caroline demanded, eyes never wavering from the smaller woman. Her lock on his shoulder never loosened. He struggled but to no avail. He let out a miserably grunt.

“All the time,” she simply replied with a slight shrug. “Enough to notice this one prowling. I was going to tell you to take care of it. Since we’re here, let’s see it through.”

“It’s unnecessary.”

“What are you?” Stefan choked out. She seemed inhuman but he couldn’t tell how. Her face was child-like but her big eyes were almost mythological, like a troll. Only her features were pale and unblemished.

“I don’t want to kill him.”

“You don’t have a choice in the matter. He’s a liability.”

“He can be compelled!”

Stefan realized he was muted in this exchange. Caroline seemed distraught over killing him which implied she cared. That was enough for Stefan to clutch onto. He encircled her wrist, hoping to redeem their previous connection. A call for mercy.

“He’s a threat. We gave you the tools. Time to employ them.”

“I… please. Let me do it my way. I can rectify this better without spilling blood. Stefan will relay my message. We’ll be left alone.”

“Not with the Originals. Who’s to say Damon hasn’t already made haste with this development to spare him and the doppelganger more time? One call to the abomination and that man jumps on the hint for the mere fraction of chance there could be truth to it. Now we have a bigger problem.”

“What do the Originals have to do with anything?” Stefan staggered.

She looked so much like Caroline but her grip was too strong. Her expression was anything but welcoming. She was fiercely arguing with the smaller woman. Her fangs flashed and black veins blemished her face. So many commonalities – the vampirism, the face – but Caroline was dead…?

“How does killing Stefan solve that if it’s already in the works?? Is it? Is either of them on their way? You tell me since you’re all knowing!”

She rolled her eyes at Caroline’s lookalike, only spurring the blonde’s temper to flare some more.

“I got wind another sibling intercepted the call. He’s come to investigate the possibility. If you’re supposedly alive, the bastard Original can be redirected. He went off the rails and set off a political uproar of the century at his southern city,” she vaguely detailed. “Your name makes waves. He’s been trying to revive you for the last two decades. Massacred half the witch population doing so,” she said with a snicker.

Caroline…? That was really Caroline?? Whoever the woman was, she confirmed Stefan’s assumptions.

Caroline scowled. 

“Klaus,” Stefan choked, recognizing the dilemma the women were debating.

Klaus who entombed Caroline’s body. Klaus who held the witch’s hostage within his city, killing them indiscriminately if they could not find a way to revive her. She was gone. The Veil had collapsed. She was unreachable.

“He – like who – Elijah?” Caroline asked the strange woman.

“Word gets around fast,” the woman said sternly. “Make an example out of him,” the woman sneered at Stefan. “He set us back.”

Caroline swallowed.

“You wouldn’t want any danger coming to him, would you?” the woman coaxed. “Elijah can be persistent. And thorough. I’m not keen on him being on our trail.”

“How is killing Stefan going to help?”

“Elijah will quickly find out Stefan was compelled but by none of his siblings. He’ll immediately think of the one _not_ accounted for. And rumors of a revived Mystic Falls vampire can lead to major speculation.”

“If he finds a corpse, then he’ll be even more suspicious,” Caroline hissed.

“Why aren’t you mad? I thought you’d be furious to find Stefan. After all, he left you for dead,” the woman quizzed. “This should be easy.”

“I’m sorry, Caroline…” Stefan pleaded, gripping her wrist in some inkling of hope she’d be moved.

“You said it yourself. I have strong character.” There was a deeper meaning behind her words. There was resentment there.

“I could help _quell – the – rumors_ ,” Stefan choked. Her hand was now squeezing his throat. “ _Get them off your scent_ ,” he hoarsely mustered.

“You tell Damon this – you thought you saw me but were mistaken; it was a case of wishful thinking; in your grief…” she paused, as if debating. Her eyes were scared and her mouth ajar, stuck on a word. “In your grief…” her eyes squeezed shut and her brows furrowed. She was torn. Stefan knew what was coming next. Blue-green eyes met blue. They were locked in. “In your grief, you’ll ask Elijah to kill you. You just want to be freed from the guilt. You’ll seek him out first.”

“So, despite the fact we gave you all the abilities of an Original, you want the other one to finish him off? What’s the point? How do you still have affection for your past??” The woman chastised. “For people like him?? Let’s not forget how we met, or rather, where we met!”

“I’m putting Stefan’s life into Elijah’s hand as a chance for mercy. If Elijah is merciful, Stefan will continue to live, maybe not for the better if his grief consumes him, but live, nonetheless. If Elijah is irate, then we’ll have one less Salvatore, and Damon can thank himself for delivering his little brother to death’s door.”

She bowed her head, almost displeased with her personal call despite avoiding the immediate slaughter her companion advocated for.

“Cruel…” the woman grinned slowly but sadistically. “I like the diversion. It’s… very psychological. I suppose I can cosign.”

Caroline swallowed. She turned to Stefan. Her pupils were still dilated for full compulsion. “You forgot about this conversation. You came across me and let me go because I’m not who you wanted me to be. You haven’t seen anyone you recognized. This trip was a complete bust and you wasted a year on wishful thinking. You are disappointed. You’ll go to Elijah as instructed. Let Damon know of your plans. Perhaps he’ll intercede on your behalf. Maybe not. You will never return here looking for Caroline Forbes. She is dead. You are certain of that. She was lost to the Veil when it collapsed.”

She released him, letting him find footing, before offering to help.

She asked something in the native tongue, confusing him.

“English?” she beckoned. He nodded slowly, taking in her uncanny appearance. “Are you okay? You hurt yourself. Roads are icy.” 

He rubbed his tender shoulder in the midst of healing itself.

He swore he saw a third person but it was just the blonde when he glanced around in a daze.

“No… no… I’m okay. Thank you. I need to go.”

He needed to escape her face. He needed to forget those terrible reminders. All for naught, he let himself believe the impossible. There was no hope for either of them. She’s gone. Caroline Forbes died and she’s not coming back.

“Okay… take care! Be safe!” the lookalike called out from afar. He was already putting so much distance between them. He didn’t look back, rushing ahead to find the nearest relief.

BREAK

She couldn’t help it. Within moments, blood sputtered from her mouth.

“Vervain?” her companion assumed. She appeared once more, kneeling beside her on flat-soled boots.

“No,” she heaved. Something more potent. _Guilt._ The one thing she clung to as a reminder of her humanity. She treasured it. She refused to succumb to the terrible legacy she had adopted. Her hand concealed her mouth, hiding the putrid mess.

“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? To poison me,” Caroline accused venomously.

“Huh?”

She was angry with Stefan but not enough to bat at an eye at his possible demise. She did everything she could to get rid of him but let him continue his life without consequence on her part. She had no qualms about Stefan. She wasn’t surprised. She forgave him, knowing he acted predictably, and she moved on. Her past was concluded. She made peace with what was.

She had no choice but to opt for the alternative to grant him time. Elijah had to be more lenient than the remaining siblings. Perhaps Stefan would live to tell another tale. She couldn’t end his story then and there, no matter how disappointed she was in him.

But the mere mention of Elena and Damon… the images which took over her vision were not her own. One spec of her death but the rest… the rest was burning. She wasn’t in the woods facing down the end of a branch; she was crumbling to the kitchen floor in a blaze. That set off everything – the jealousy Elena took precedent over everything else; the way Damon seemed to evade death like the roach he was. She fixated on how they managed to survive Kol, an Original, and then to add salt to the wound, Elijah’s name reared itself up and all she could think about is how Elijah is constantly doing Klaus’s bidding. Seeking out whatever miracle scheme to evoke humanity in his impossible brother.

She could pull herself out of it. Those thoughts cycled through her like a snapshot slideshow. The feelings fresh

Elijah seeking out some girl to reprieve his brother of his mood; only to possibly come across his revived brother who perished without proper respect or a show of retribution the brothers swore themselves to inflict should harm come to their kin; they levelled towns for less but Kol was never avenged. Mystic Falls stood and Elena was running free. Katherine received worst treatment for merely running away in the first place.

She hated herself for allowing a moment to relish in the thought of absolving Elena and Damon of their dilemma. She envisioned all the creative ways to end their misery. No more running or looking over their shoulder. A merciful act that would come at the others hand, true poetic justice.

And Elijah. Her protective instincts kicked in full gear. She couldn’t allow him to intercept Kol. She allowed herself the moment to reflect on a chance encounter. She could take him on. She had the skills. More importantly, she had the personal motivation.

She had the bite. The unsettling fury that roared in her stomach at he was named solidified her theory.

That wasn’t her. These violent feelings weren’t her.

“When you transferred Kol’s vampirism to me, I got his vendettas, too. They kick in whenever certain names are dropped, like triggers,” she grumbled, slowly coming to a stand. “They overwhelm me. I can’t talk myself down.”

Her companion didn’t even blink. “A happy consequence. We couldn’t have you deflecting.” She met her eyes. “You’re merely a medium. His emotional response lingering within that generous heart of yours only strengthen your loyalties. You’ll know which side to serve. If you didn’t already have a maternal bond with the boy compelling you to shield him, at least his buried suffering is too strong for you to resist. It’s nice to have insurance.”

Caroline felt herself lurch once more to finish the rest of the pile.

If she was this reactionary at the mere mention of them, what would she do when she faced them? How would she react to Klaus in person?

“And now you’re a match for them, too, so we shouldn’t have a problem with you serving your duty.”

She growled. “There was no doubt about that.”

“Just now I did. You thought quick on your feet but for future reference, leave the mind games to us,” the little woman grinned a vile smile of sharp teeth. “Your job is to protect Kol’s life at all costs, _including those you sympathize_.” 


	4. Trondheim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time is an abstract motion - and never one's friend.  
> Or the unfortunate coincidence the person they wanted to avoid seeks a particular name out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... I definitely have a love-hate relationship with filler chapters. Just enough to provide background and all the information I wanted to toss out their into the universe without having any badly time plot reveals - ya know? Long story short, yeah, I speeded up the timeline a bit for excitement. 
> 
> 1) an original comes to town.  
> 2) the witch vs the Fae is an element (no pun intended, you'll get it as you read) I definitely want to explore more... for creative purposes.  
> 3) if y'all like deep discussions about Kalijah and Klaroline, with some hopeful tones for the latter, this is it! I'd like to think after some decades, Caroline matures a bit, and an art gallery is where she has her introspective moments. Katherine, too, leaning towards other directions. I think growth in general is something in store for them.  
> 4) the hastened timeline and lack of Kol is purposeful. My boy needs an ENTRANCE and when I figure out how to do that, then I will serve him justice. 
> 
> Enjoy! I'll see if I can make my fingers work again these coming days. This chapter was on and off and I just need to find a scene to really propel me to the next. (Writing is hard... its a masochist thing that we do what we love at the expense of our sanity). 
> 
> I really enjoy the feedback and the little comments from folks enjoying this crazy idea of mine! Its nice to put it out and have someone reply with their own input, too! Fanfiction as a whole is a gift to all.

Caroline wasn’t an art snob. She didn’t even venture into museums that often. But, per Kol’s advice, there was an exhibit on display that he thought she should see. The name didn’t mean much to him but the artist was too familiar for her to ignore. 

She wore something nice – red, sleek, and strapless. The shawl she swore offered little protection but was a wonderful fashion accessory to help her blend in with the upper-class patrons who meandered amongst the pews. 

The landscapes and dark colors were tell-tale signs of Klaus. She was slow and deliberate with each step, trying to gather her own reaction. 

She may be a masochist but she was determined to break the control of Kol’s lingering resentment. She would not allow it to fester in her body. She would not be manipulated and pawned by powers beyond her comprehension to step into some role, used and undermined at any given turn when it pleased them. She wanted her autonomy back. She was going to get it back. 

She was Caroline Forbes, damnit. 

She could control herself with other people around. She wasn’t going to hurt them. She had no reason to. She just wanted to command her emotions to not consume her, to be able to distinguish what was her own and what wasn’t. 

“Are these new?” She had asked one of the staff when they offered champagne. 

It was there thing. She half expected him to be there, grinning at such a corny joke. For whatever reason, imagining his face did not prompt the nauseous coiling in her stomach the preceded worse emotions to come. She felt… nostalgic. Like rehashing a fond memory with a friend appreciating simpler times. 

“Private collection. I can’t give you an exact date but he has been generous to share his work as of late. We’re so lucky to be one of the few establishments to receive them.” 

She couldn’t help but smile. 

“You weren’t compelled, were you?” she teased. 

The staffer was confused and she shook her head. “Never mind that. It was an inside joke,” she waved off. “These are wonderful. I enjoy them.” 

I enjoy you. What did he say before that? Did she even have to ask herself? You’re beautiful, you’re strong, you’re full of light… Forever beautiful and fighting so damn hard to keep her light. She hasn’t succumbed to darkness yet. 

His words echoed in her ears. No sign of fury yet. Just focus. So far, so good.

It’s like practicing with the substitute; not risking the real thing. A tiny dosage to prepare the soul – sort of like a vaccine. 

Her own brand of conditioning. Amateur therapy. It was something. Not professional grade but her own terms, at least. 

“Katherine,” Caroline asked softly. 

“Hmm?” 

She had taken up Caroline’s invitation to join her. She was desperate to get out, to taste the world she knew once before. It was like the roles had been switched. Caroline who wanted to venture beyond her boundaries was now finding every excuse to stay back; Katherine who was confined for only a quarter-century was yearning to escape. 

Dolled up in one of Caroline’s favorite pieces, a pink chiffon gown, Katherine appreciated the girls’ night out while extending a helping hand to Caroline. Baby steps for the baby Original determined to take back control. Katherine was more than happy to fulfill her role as best friend. 

“Do you still feel bitter?” 

“Do you?” 

They both took a pause to reflect. The painting in question was a stormy sea of blue. From their perspective, it looked like something symbolizing drowning in an endless abyss. That was Caroline’s take. She didn’t miss the tiny glimmer of light far off the horizon. She focused on it like a captain would manning a ship struggling to keep ahead. The little slip of hope wasn’t hindered by the barrage of waves or blinding rain; instead, the beacon of hope intensified. How could something so small be so powerful? 

She felt like she was getting an insight into Klaus’s mind. She always tried to look past the surface, to find deeper meaning. Luckily, they had a whole gallery for her to gather a decent profile of the man she once knew. 

Katherine had her own interpretation. The angry swipes of blue meshed with heavy black undertones were morbidly depressed, in her personal opinion. There was nothing romantic and inspiring about the piece; it was a scope into someone’s soul who was so deep in depression that even a lighthouse was evaporating into view. They were just waiting for inevitable. The struggle was exhausting. 

“In all honesty, no,” Katherine inferred. 

Caroline turned, fully engaged. Katherine continued, mesmerized by the tragedy before her. Should she feel resentful Klaus was painting himself the victim, wallowing in his own self-made circumstances? Or should she pity a man who lost direction in his life, unable to break the cycle of his own destruction? 

“Indifferent, actually. I spent my entire life like Kol, driven to do terrible things for my own self-preservation. That’s on me. I could blame Klaus for it but the collateral damage I left behind wasn’t his to claim. I accept that. Maybe it’s my humanity speaking with a vengeance. Twenty-five years to repent.” She turned to Caroline with eyes that spoke volumes. “I pity him. It took me less time to figure out my faults and come to terms with my own undoing. Sure, he may he driven me to a certain point, but I have to take accountability for the rest that came after. I was complicit in this sick, twisted game I would eventually lose. And I ruined myself doing so.” 

She wondered if she should say what she wanted to next. Honesty was something she coveted and Caroline deserved the transparency. 

“If I left five hundred years of contempt following me into this next life, nothing would have changed. I would have sabotaged myself. Same thing with Kol. He made a decision to let go of it, to risk starting anew, and look at us, we came out for the better. You – you always have this refreshing look on life, with this forgiving heart we all deemed weak because we’re so blinded by our prejudice and spoiled by the rotten things in our lives. I know better now. You’re the stronger of us, willing to look ahead without letting the past chain you down. You took on Kol’s baggage without warning but look at you, determined to overcome it, and maybe, just maybe, that’s what Kol needed. That kind of trauma needs closure and if anyone can grant it, it’s you, Caroline. It’s unfortunate you were bestowed that kind of responsibility on top of the rest of burdens imposed on you but you’re resilient. I’m glad it hasn’t gotten the better of you.” 

Caroline returned a small smile. 

“Yet…” Caroline ominously interjected. 

Katherine spoke as if reading her mind. “Just because I forgive myself and maybe, reluctantly, Klaus, too, or even Elijah, doesn’t mean I’d welcome them back. Look at this,” she gestured to the canvas. “They continue their struggle with very little growth. They haven’t healed or learned or anything remotely close to progress. Why invite that dysfunction into Kol’s life after all these leaps we made? A thousand years and they still haven’t learned from their mistakes; it took us to die to finally see the errors of ways and were fortunate to be granted a second chance. The Fae are concerned – and rightfully so – that any semblance of the past will ruin Kol and I’m in agreement. From a psychological standpoint, and more so from a mother’s perspective, I’m cynical of anyone who’s too entrenched in their own struggle to not drag Kol down with them.” 

“How do you feel?” Katherine implored, rubbing her arm. 

“I’m not spiraling,” Caroline assured warmly. “I feel like I’m overcompensating. I’m protecting Kol of the present and Kol of the past. I know logically these emotions aren’t mine because what I’m feeling now, looking into this piece of his soul, I can only remember my own thoughts. I pity him, too. I clutch onto the same hope he does,” she said, eyeing the little gleam of white peeking through the wall of rain. “I want him to so desperately find the peace and purpose we have. I also know it’s not my place to guide him. As if he’d let me. He likes to control not just himself but everyone around him. Life doesn’t work like that. We both know that. He’s so scared of unravelling he has to play puppeteer, ignorant of the reality he’s lost direction himself. He had it once, I think… when he saw me, it rekindled something… just for a moment, he restrained himself and trusted me to meet him in the middle. I don’t know why me exactly but, perhaps, it was for the better, like you said. Like I was someone he wanted to be. I don’t want to be vain implying I’m supposed to be better than him but in his dark, twisted existence, he found someone who defied all odds. Someone who didn’t drown in the darkness like he did.” 

“But…” Katherine spied reservation in her voice. 

“He’s learning, and I’ll give him that much,” Caroline abided, “but he’s likely not at a point I’d trust him not to revert to his hardened ways with Kol. When he’s hurt, he lashes out and hunkers down. He lost Kol once, twice, how many times, and each time he locked him away – in his own way to keep the people he loves close – and then, Elena took his wayward brother away for good. Klaus lost control and he couldn’t get it back. I worry his reaction should he come across Kol would be to do just as he had before – to take him away, lock him up, motivated by his misguided intention to keep Kol from harm again.” 

“But that would hurt Kol more than he knows,” Katherine sighed. 

“Klaus doesn’t have that insight,” Caroline pinpointed. “He has telescope vision. He means well when it comes to his family but his actions are propelled by his nearsightedness. He’s not at a place I’d trust him to not unintentionally wound Kol. I won’t say his intent is malicious but it’s certainly misguided.” 

They both pondered their next words with a slow, steady sip of champagne.

“You’re not villainizing him, not like you do with Kol,” Katherine mused happily. 

“I’m humanizing him but not neglecting his faults,” Caroline nodded along. “I wonder if Kol is a factor when I get into those moods.” 

“Like projection…?” 

“Maybe,” Caroline theorized. “When Kol exposes his vulnerable side, I feel a tidal wave of emotions. His emotions. As if his past self is reacting to past harm. He needs closure and I’m working on it. I don’t know if it’s the Fae doing or just human nature to lash out but right now, right here, that’s not what I’m feeling. It’s just me, you, and the ghost of Klaus. Whatever Kol felt, its dormant. This isn’t triggering that kind of response.” 

“So, to cancel out those feelings, we need to do some major damage control,” Katherine mused along. Her lips curled upwards. 

“Years and years of therapy,” Caroline humored lightly. 

“Or the Caroline method, using reason and perseverance to cancel out the irrational,” Katherine nudged her side lightly. 

“Emotions are temporary. Natural. We can’t shut them off. It shouldn’t work like that. They are reactionary but they aren’t forever. Anger dissipates into reflection if you will it to. Grief is like memories – depends how you look at them. You either cry for the past or you celebrate the moments you were given,” Caroline smiled, remembering her mother. “Time doesn’t stop. You just have to take what it gives you and find what drives you along. I’d hate to underappreciate all the good memories by clinging to the ones that hurt me. For some, that’s all they have. They don’t know better.” She sighed sorrowfully. “A thousand years of bitterness condensed into blinding darkness; what a terrible life to live.” 

“Careful, your sympathy might drive your savior complex,” Katherine cautioned. “You might volunteer to be his guiding light.” 

“He needs to find his own light,” Caroline declared. “If mine inspired him, so be it, but mine can’t be substituted for his. I can’t take on that responsibility if he doesn’t want to help himself. He needs to take his own initiative. He did it before. I believe he can do it again,” she raised her head high. 

Katherine swirled her glass. “You don’t think he’ll cage you up, too? He clings to the things – the people – he sees invaluable. With or without knowing you’re like him now, down to the white stake weakness, what’s to say he won’t treat you like the way you predict he’ll react with Kol?” 

Caroline pitched a brow high. “I didn’t say he wouldn’t. I told you,” she nodded along, “I can’t be his light. If he did that, I’d be exhausted, like a flame flickering in a dark room until I finally wisp out. I can’t live like that and part of me knows he knows that. His instinct would defy his logic. He’d be torn. It depends on him how he reacts – if he trusts me, if he loves me enough to let me act in my accord,” she mused sensibly. “I believe he’s capable of it – of overcoming his circumstance. He just needs to get out of his own head.” 

Like she is now. 

“You think he still loves you? That he hasn’t lost interest?” Katherine was being genuine, concerned even. 

“Apparently not,” Caroline allowed herself the savor the moment. She bowed sheepishly, recalling the Fae’s startling revelation he had been desperate to revive – at the expense of a great loss of life. That part made her frown. So hardened in his ways, refusing to budge. Stubborn ass – she was allowed to say that, right? That wasn’t vindictive? It was proper criticism of a man who can’t get out of his own way trying to accomplish something that – in a new light – she supposes was well intentioned but the means he went about it was tarnishing the goal. As to why she was worth resurrecting to him was a deeper subject she wasn’t sure she was credible to deconstruct. 

“Less about Klaus, how about your Original?” Caroline raised with a mischievous brow. 

If Klaus was Caroline’s bias, Elijah was Katherine’s. Their own person strife built in an imposing example of a man that had, miraculously, forfeited their instincts to jump in good faith their character was worth salvaging. Back then, maybe. Caroline had suspicions Katherine may be as pardoning as she. 

“I’ll say – like you – the root of his intentions are honorable. Family always took precedent, even if the way he want about it was harsh. For Kol and Rebekah, I mean. Maybe, once, he doubted his brother enough to conspire against him, but at the end of the day,” she declared with defeated eyes, “the principle comes first. Family is family but everything in between is subjective.” 

“Except his word is law,” Katherine chuckled. “He could be a pretentious ass like that.” 

“Katherine,” Caroline feigned shock. “Language!” 

“It’s true,” Katherine snorted. “Actually, I wonder who would win in a battle of wills: You or Elijah?” 

Caroline puckered her lips, “really??” 

“Caroline Forbes, champion of the last word.” 

They clinked flutes. 

“I’d like to see his face if that ever happened,” Caroline chuckled. 

“I would, too.” Katherine allowed herself to cave, following Caroline’s lead but her laughter was loud enough to earn a few disapproving stares from other patrons. 

“Talk about pretentious asses,” Caroline retorted back, intimidating them to back down by forcing them into a stare down. 

Katherine hollered and nudged her in the ribs, hard. 

“Ow, you’ve been holding out on me,” Caroline rubbed the sore spot. 

“Your Americanism is showing,” Katherine teased. “Wait – what happened to southern charm? 

“I’ll take southern manners over Scandinavian passivism any day,” Caroline haughtily raised. 

“How long have we been in this strange country and it still hasn’t rubbed off on you?” Katherine leaned in closer. 

“I have, like, a thousand years – this is an over extended vacation,” Caroline snorted. “Next is somewhere warmer,” she declared. 

“Like Rome?” 

Caroline pondered heavily. 

“Rome is like… a marathon,” she likened. “This,” she said gesturing to the gallery, “is a sprint in the park. Let’s not compare apples to oranges.” 

“I could come with you,” Katherine said uncharacteristically feeble. 

Caroline, having already know she was inkling to leave, nodded. “I’m not sure I’ll be the best travel companion,” she admitted, ashamed. “I don’t want to sour your experience. If I can’t get a handle on this, I’ll just ruin you final romp around Europe.” 

They have already surpassed the days talking about her theoretical end. They addressed it early on. Originally it was preparation for the plans to resume custody of Kol, or if later, simply look after him as intended. Now priorities are shifted and Caroline was in the talks with Katherine about how she was going to finally live the remainder of her life. If anything, Caroline would live vicariously through her like the supportive friend she aspired to be. 

“Maybe the trick is psychological. Let’s be reasonable. Klaus doesn’t equate to Rome or Paris or anything like that. He doesn’t get to monopolize dreams. He made a suggestion and then asserted himself to be part of it. Didn’t we just cover a couple seconds ago how he has to involve himself in everything?” 

“He was being genuine,” Caroline defended. 

“And when we resurrected, we already had a mindset that Klaus and Elijah – all of them – were behind us. Were you going to avoid Rome forever? Sell yourself short because someone else called dibs? Don’t limit yourself, Caroline. Plans change. Or think about it like this,” Katherine amended. “You were promised Rome by Klaus, and Tokyo, and Paris – but that doesn’t mean you have to go with him and only him. You can rain check that favor another day if you are so determined to see that promise through but you can always go alone, too, or with me, until Klaus gets it together and by some miracle, things work themselves out. Maybe it’ll give you a chance to compare experiences, to weigh what you really want – if it’s really Klaus you yearn for or if you just what he described: a worldly experience at your fingertips.” 

“I still have you and Kol to worry about.” 

“Kol has Ava. That little halfling has done her fair share thwarting off witches and vampires and who knows what else. Don’t think the Fae didn’t account for back up plans. He’s also technically on his two feet like they worded. You’re just here as security. You live an hour away from him. If distance was a problem, they’d be reprimanding you for it, but looks like they don’t mind you easing off the pedal. He’s twenty-five, not twelve.” 

Caroline mulled over her words, torn by how easily persuaded she was by Katherine’s argument. Was it wrong she liked the romance of seeing a new city with someone who wants to savor the experience? Or did she find the idea appealing because she liked to be wanted and desired? Was that selfish of her? 

Katherine was right – it wasn’t so much about Rome as it was about Klaus. She wanted Klaus. Or maybe someone like him – or just someone, someone to share her life with. Katherine would succumb to old age. Kol, too. She’d be alone, or maybe she’d be task to look out for his children like the lifetime of servitude demanded. Her lifetime extended well beyond a hundred years. She just didn’t want to be alone for those parts. 

Then there’s Katherine was had been alone for more than that time allotted. Katherine who should experience the world in a better light for a final time. Katherine who, though not romantic, was someone who she cherished and the feeling was mutual. She humored Klaus’ invite to Rome; she didn’t agree Rome exclusively with Klaus for indefinitely. 

Rome with Klaus was one thing. Rome with Katherine was another. Someday described the former. The latter suggested time was short. Time was valuable in her case. 

“You should’ve been a lawyer with your power of persuasion,” Caroline complimented. “You know what? I like the idea of that. Even if I’m a grump – which I won’t because I have no reason to be – I don’t want you to be tied down to a place like this. As your protector, I suppose it’s my duty to accompany you wherever you go,” Caroline played with her words. Katherine grinned broadly as Caroline began to sway towards her. “I always did like the movie Roman Holiday.” 

“Let’s just make sure you are a hundred percent sure you’re okay with it. I’m not going to force you,” Katherine assured, closing the distance between the two. Her head rested on Caroline’s, comforted by her friends willingness to put aside her own reservations to make a soon-to-be-dead woman make the most of her time left. That selflessness is what endeared Katherine and she wanted to treasure what she had left – Caroline, Kol, and a window of opportunities to reclaim in the time steadfastly approaching. 

“I can’t let fear define me. I’m Caroline Forbes and I am not afraid of a challenge. Let’s go for New Years. I may have considered Rome with Klaus but New Years in Rome with you is another story. Completely different experience,” Caroline spun a narrative to suit them. Katherine hummed contently. “It’s a holiday. Our Roman Holiday! It’ll be a great way to begin the year.” 

“I think that’s a fantastic idea,” Katherine agreed happily. 

A tall, lean man in dark blue came up behind them. Dark hair, blue eyes, semi-tall: Caroline recognized him immediately. 

“Axel! Lovely to see you,” Caroline greeted excitedly. 

“May I…? For the article…?” he raised his Cannon camera. 

“No, no,” Caroline waved off. “I’m not on the press list. Kol, my cousin, he helped curate this gallery,” she beamed. “He’s a student at-”

“I remember! Ah, yes, he’s interested in history, no?” 

She nodded. “Anthropology,” she politely corrected. “A slightly different study but he’s fond of history. He’s interning her for his semester credit. It’s a wonderful addition to his repertoire. 

“Ah, I have yet to meet his acquaintance but I hope to. You brough a friend as well! Hi, I’m Axel. You are? ” 

“Call me Katie,” Katherine offered her hand. 

“Hello Katie. It’s wonderful to meet you. Kari here is a wonderful addition to our team. I’m happy to meet her friends outside work. She’s such a mystery sometimes. I’m glad to see you’re enjoying yourselves, too. Kol has done a phenomenal job here along with the rest of the staff. Extend my appreciation to him.” 

“I will. He’s like it very much,” Katherine answered on her behalf. She was beaming with pride. Kol was astute and keen to detail just like Caroline. He excelled at these kinds of things. She was surprised he didn’t realize what work he was dealing with or set off some sort of triggers. Nonetheless, she was relieved it didn’t. 

I’m surprised you aren’t going to write about your experience. I’m sure it’d be popular with our readers!” 

“I wasn’t assigned,” she dismissed. 

He raised a brow. “You could do it. It’d be a great transition from travel to local arts or possibly leisure. Food & Culture would really improve with you behind the helm. You’re basically a staple in the industry. You could rise rank, if you consider moving onto a different genre. More invites to prominent events. You have the face for it.” 

“Thank you, Axel. You are so kind,” she chuckled. “I like my travel section. It gives me a lot more freedom. I don’t know if I can keep up with this scene,” she laughed off, waving to the elegance around them. “Once in a while, I like to doll up, but not all the time. So much work,” she joked. 

“I disagree. I think you fit in well with this type of environment,” Axel complimented. “If you change your mind, let me know. For now, would you mind if I take a photo for the feature? I wouldn’t credit you as requested but, as a patron, you’re the image we want to sell. Your friend, too, if you’d like, Katie,” he addressed without hesitation. 

“No thank you,” Katherine declined, bowing her head. She didn’t want to risk it. She turned her back just in case. 

“She’s camera shy,” Caroline explained. “How about we take a staff photo later?” 

“Sure!” Axel excited cheered. “Would you mind?” He asked Katherine, handing her his phone. “Just of us two!” 

“Uh,” both women stammered. Katherine beat her to the punch when Caroline managed a reluctant smile. Nodding along, Katherine took the blonde’s cue to take a photo as Axel wrapped an arm around her torso. He beamed a genuine smile and Caroline reverted back to her pageant self, adopting a certain posture and fashioning an acceptable smile. 

“Thank you, Kari! I’ll see you later,” he waved off when recognizing another writer socializing far off. “I have to catch up with Stieg! Enjoy the rest of the exhibit and send my regards to your cousin!” 

“He’s…” Katherine mumbled with uncertainly. 

“…Bold? Yeah, he can a bit much,” Caroline agreed with weary eyes following his descent. “He has ambition and I don’t like his insinuation my face is all that’s qualified to stamp on some advertisement piece. I like where I’m at. I don’t need someone deciding my next career change.” 

Katherine took her arm comfortingly. She knew Caroline loved her work. It was genuine and carefully written with as much personal touch Caroline could affair. It was almost like her diary, living vicariously and sharing her adventures with likened souls. Katherine was inspired by her writings. She wasn’t the only one. 

“I got you,” Katherine consoled, tapping her arm. They moved onwards, strolling casually without a care. 

BREAK 

“Thank you! Your presence is a huge honor! The collection itself is a wonderful gift we are happy to share amongst the patrons! What brings you here? If we had known, we would have prepared the proper accommodations!” 

Suited entourage bearing establishment tags escorted a tall gentleman from the side entrance. He heeded them little attention, more interested in his phone. Beside him, a woman dressed elegantly in black. Heels clacked against tile as she tried to keep up pace. Both brunettes glanced to their side, acknowledging the generous gathering of admirers parading around the main lobby and socializing. 

This was an event catered to higher tier society. Only those with means could afford the ticket and the rest were invited for media purposes. 

“The estate is happy to arrange the loan. I was in town on personal business and wanted to see the final result,” the guest of honor replied. “You can thank my brother for his contribution. He’s an admirer of the arts and your establishment has a great reputation for its care.” 

“Would you like to speak, Mr. Mikaelson?” 

“No, thank you,” he amended upon registering the harshness of his voice. That wasn’t really the way of these people. It wasn’t how to conduct business. “I’d just like to see the final result and be on my way, if allowed. 

“Of course, Mr. Mikaelson. What accommodations should we make for your guest?” 

“This is my companion, Miss Sophie Deveraux,” he introduced. 

“I’ll be fine. This is a business visit,” she dismissed. There was an unsettling urgency in her tone as he reviewed his messages. Her eyes tried to keep up with the small text. “Let us be, please.” 

As the group dispersed per their instruction, she leaned into his ear. “What are we doing here? Where is my sister? Is there something I should know?” She dared to pull him by the arm, surprising him. He looked at her offending hand and she hastily pulled it off, knowing she breached a boundary. 

“Klaus is killing witches left and right and my sister is one of them,” Sophie sneered. “I want to save her just as much as you want to save your brother!” 

He readjusted his postured and looked her down with hardened eyes. “That’s exactly what we’re doing here. I was given a lead that perhaps someone from the past believed to be dead is amongst us. As to how, I intend to find out. If it’s a false lead, I’d rather investigate and cross it off. I like being thorough. It’s in your best interest to comply. I last recall you don’t hold much leverage. You and your coven and many others have failed to produce results.” 

“Who exactly is Caroline Forbes anyways?” 

“It’s also not in your best interest to pry on private matters,” Elijah warned. “My brother does not trust you beyond what information he gives you.” 

“Trust goes both ways,” she sneered. 

“Last I checked, you haven’t given us any reason to grant you leniency,” Elijah strummed along. 

“Bastard,” Sophie growled. 

Sophie hadn’t seen her corpse. Only heard rumors of it. It had dissolved into ash spontaneously one day; it serves as the last string holding Klaus to some semblance of humanity. The day she scattered into nothing but the debris lining her mausoleum, then began a bloodbath of New Orleans. Witches left and right were tossed like common garbage when they were incapable of reviving her. How could they? There was no veil and even when the veil stitched itself back together like nature ordered, her soul had long departed. 

No corpse. No soul. All devoured by cruelty of time. 

And the witches were punished for not achieving the impossible. 

Now Elijah had held her sister’s life as leverage to drag Sophie around in search of a possible lead. A lookalike? A doppelganger? Reincarnation, perhaps. Anything to assuage Klaus’s murderous mood. 

She almost pitied the poor woman she never met. Perhaps death was more merciful than the alternative reality. Between her and the stranger she never knew, she deemed the dead woman luckier of the two. 

If she did find her, Elijah had a right to distrust her. The witches held grudges and she herself had no qualms about collateral damage. She’d happily return the favor to avenge all the hundreds of witches lost to appease an impossible man. Whoever she was, whatever she meant, either way: she should consider herself lucky that she evaded hands this far. Either Klaus or Sophie, both sides would crush her. 

BREAK 

“Heads up!” 

“Jesus!” Caroline exclaimed in fright. Katherine leapt upwards and nearly stumbled into Caroline’s form. The two spin and faced with their familiar but unexpected visitor. 

“Claudia!” Katherine pushed out through her teeth. “What is wrong with you?” 

“Your eyes! C’mon!” Caroline ushered her away from the crowds. She would catch too much attention from their peers; her small stature and child-like face was one thing but her oversized green eyes was an unsettling sight. The whimsical red garb she wore looked better suited for a cultural museum than a prestigious modern art gallery. She no doubt would turn heads. Katherine and Caroline encircled her in a corner, out of view. 

“The Original and his witch came in on a red-eye flight. They’re here looking for you upon the vampire’s advice.” 

“And you’re telling us now?” Katherine hissed low. 

“I wasn’t aware until someone told me my original and my surrogate was off traipsing in Trondheim,” Claudia deadpanned. Both eyes each other wearily, averting their gaze to avoid Claudia’s. “You’re making me look sloppy with your sporadic trips. I’m supposed to be keeping track of you so I can warn you ahead of times! Why are you here in the first place?”

“Working on something personal! I can’t be losing myself to irrational emotions,” Caroline had no problem admitted. 

“Then you know who’s behind the artwork,” Claudia snarled. “Why would you possibly expose yourself like that?”

“I’m supposed to be controlling myself. That means I can’t let my emotions slip,” Caroline returned the same caliber of hostility. “This was the perfect place to test my theory. Skip the same talk. Tell me how to exit.” 

“There’s no time. I can shield you with my magic. His witch won’t detect it. Stay near me,” Claudia instructed sternly. She was accusing Caroline of something. It only took a second for the vampire to realize the Fae was upset she had to cover for Caroline’s slip. 

“A mirage,” Katherine confirmed. A wall of magic that reflected the surrounding background. A minor but effective deception. Claudia shot her a dry look. 

“Less chatting would be nice. I can’t create a sound barrier on such short notice. He’s not going to integrate with the crowd at the risk of exposing himself. He’s scouting from the shadows. I can tell he’s nearby. The stench of diluted magic is strong.” 

“Can I see them?” Caroline asked. Neither dared turn their head. Katherine was thankful her iconic curls were done up nicely in a updo, making her less auspicious to anyone who could recognized her. Caroline was less fortunate, fashioning her long blonde tendrils as she usually did. 

“Yes. They won’t see you. By the way, Kol is safe. Ava is standing guard.” There it was – the jab. Caroline glowered down. 

“They aren’t looking for Kol. They’re looking me.” Caroline hissed as softly as she could. She had hoped the vibrant ambiance of the gallery would conceal her voice. Would Elijah even recognize it? He barely interacted with her, she recalled. “Unless that’s changed,” she snapped to the smaller fiend. 

“He’s too concerned about confirming the supposed lead you’re alive; if you are, it would solve a lot of problems at home. Best we leave him empty handed,” Claudia assured. 

Katherine held her breath. 

“What about smell?” She mouthed, raising a finger to her nose. 

Claudia crinkled hers and pondered. “Not with that cheap stuff you’re wearing,” she grinned. 

Katherine fisted her hands in indignation, refusing to justify the jab with a retort. 

“In all seriousness, you’ve been around us and nature too long. Your scent has changed significantly. He wouldn’t be able to trace it.” 

“You could have said that instead,” Katherine snarled lowly. 

Caroline was already scanning the room, hoping to anticipate his silhouette. He probably didn’t change much since she last recalled. Fashion may have tweaked but he was always fond of his suit and tie. The pricier, the better. He always seemed prestigious in his presentation, unlike his siblings. 

“Why shroud me and not just run with Katherine? She’s worth more to you than me,” Caroline whispered. 

“Other way around. Her use has expired. If anything, she’s a liability should she get into the wrong hands. You are exponentially more valuable given the length and versatility of your use. Remember, she’s our surrogate. You are our shield. Were, I should say. I’m stepping in temporary to throw them off,” Claudia murmured. Katherine scowled at her jest while Caroline stiffened upon realizing how entrenched she was in the scheme of things. “The witch can be a complication. Caroline…” 

“Yes…?” 

“Should the witch meddle, given my cue, do as your told to do,” Claudia demanded. 

Caroline swallowed. Had it been in any other situation, possible she’d reject the notice with as much ferocity as she had with Stefan, but one look to Katherine signified a different motive within her. She nodded with assurance. 

“Why not you?” Katherine mumbled disgruntledly, 

“Caroline agreed to my terms to do a particular job with skills I generously granted her and she will see it through. If I wanted to intervene all the time, I would, but given the players involved at this very moment, I’m offering temporary guidance until my Original holds her own,” Claudia sneered. “Watch closely and pick up where I left off, Caroline.” 

Katherine despised the way Claudia referred to Caroline as if she were some possession to be employed like a guard dog. Ordering her like a puppy to be trained. She held her tongue, waiting for time and place to speak.

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” Caroline growled under breath. She hated being ordered around. She already knew her duty. She didn’t bother arguing it when Katherine was literally at her side. Caroline understood behind the mirage, she was the only divider between Elijah and Katherine. And indirectly, Kol, too, should Elijah and his cronies investigate further. 

“That wasn’t the case earlier,” Claudia grumbled. 

Katherine didn’t want to say anything then. Her mind was zigzagging all over. She wasn’t sure what Elijah would do if he discovered her alive – and human – but more importantly, what would happen to Caroline if she was caught. Elijah had no qualms abiding his brothers’ wishes or acting on his brothers’ best interest – which meant Caroline would be taken to wherever she needed to be upon his demand. It was no difference from her own contract with the Fae. At least the Fae let her live somewhat liberally. 

But Caroline wouldn’t go willingly. She’d fight. It was expected of her. Katherine was terrified of the lengths such a confrontation would require. Caroline would have to up her ante to match the years and skills Elijah has acquired. 

Her alibi would be ousted and Elijah would have more questions than answers if he discovered the extend of her abilities. By then it was no longer a mission to quell his brother’s torment but interrogate her to see if she’d be a threat to his beloved family. She’d never see peace again. Forever on the radar as a liability. 

All these scenarios flooded her psyche she almost missed the glimmer of something malicious in Caroline’s otherwise bubbly blue eyes. Then, as she caught the sneer, and the fangs protruding from her lips, Katherine realized the progress they had celebrated about her snuffing out Kol’s putrid vendetta was all for naught; here she was, ready to rip out someone’s throat for daring to be too close to comfort. 

“Care, are you okay?” Katherine whispered. 

In all honesty, Caroline didn’t anticipate the delayed reaction. She nearly forgotten her struggle altogether, too concerned with how she’d react to Klaus. She neglected to entertain the possibility of encountering Elijah until it was too late. Just as Claudia notified them, and the fact Katherine was vulnerable to exposure, two fronts slammed her. 

The first being a hot, burning sensation which rose up her neck and cheeks as she felt cornered and defensive. She immediately identified that one as natural and authentic. Driven solely by the need to protect her friend, she subconsciously tucked Katherine behind her – to act like a divide should the scenario turn dire. 

The other was frostier, like a piercing cold that ran through her bones. That was premediated, like a conditioned response. She wondered if that’s what Kol felt each and every time Elijah sought him out abroad, fully expecting to be dragged back. Her hackles were raised and she was already anticipating landing a blow. Her blood was simultaneously rushing – and she could feel her veins protrude under her skin like hot ash – while her entire body felt flush and cold, like the edge was entirely too much for her body to handle. Her limbs felt heavier and her pulse fluttered like crazy. 

Katherine glanced back to Claudia to observe her reaction. While effortlessly maintaining a mirage, she was also smiling like the sadistic little gremlin Katherine believed her to be. No teeth were shown but if they were, they were sharp and jagged. One bite could do serious damage, rip flesh from bone. These weren’t happy woodland sprites – these were maneaters who craved chaos. No wonder Kol made their acquaintance centuries ago. He found himself a kindred spirit in the little devil. 

She was savoring Caroline’s response, enjoying the fact the baby Original was fully equipped to inflict terrible damage. Katherine felt her mouth dry and her head ached as blood rushed upwards. At least Caroline was on her side. She fretted thinking about any unfortunate sap who’d be on the receiving end of her wrath. Suddenly she regretted humoring the discussion about her defeating Elijah in a ball of wills. With it being too close to reality and the consequences too severe to process, all she could do was grip onto the hefty red fabric that composed Caroline’s designer skirt. 

BREAK 

Sophie knew her life held in the balance and that of her sister’s, too. Deep down, she had hoped this hunch would reveal something to bring home. To exploit to their favor. Elijah knew that, too. His distrust was as deeply rooted as Klaus’ of the conspiring covens. He just didn’t have the savvy to detect magic like she could. She came from older lines and darker means – she had been intuition than most. 

Yet, as she scanned the room, she felt a void. It was like a missing piece of the room she couldn’t quite catch with her eyes. A terrible game of Where’s Waldo. She sensed a discrepancy she couldn’t quite place. 

“I sense magic but I don’t know where,” she admitted. “It’s disguised.” 

“Let’s continue,” Elijah urged her ahead. 

“A description would be nice,” Sophie grunted. His presence was threatening and entirely too close for comfort. 

“Blonde, blue eyed, average height,” Elijah listed. 

“That’s most of this room,” Sophie snarled. They all looked alike. It was the northern type. “How do we know she isn’t on to us? Or would answer her name?” 

“She left on good terms with my brother,” Elijah replied just as swiftly. 

“What if it’s not even her? What if it’s a wrong lead? We grab a lookalike and pass her off?” Sophie was being sarcastic; a jest not appreciated by the Original. Her tone dropped to match her seriousness. “How do we even know she’s here?” 

“This is my brother’s work under his nineteenth century alias. I was told she was fond of it. He fancied her a few originals. It was a ploy to see if she’d come.” 

“If she’s been hiding this last year, or more, what makes you think she wants to risk intercepting your brother?” 

“Like I said, she supposedly was friendly with him and he was considerate of her. They did not have any ill will towards each other.” 

“I find that hard to believe,” Sophie remarked sourly. Then again, he did dedicate the past two decades to revive her. Kept her secret in a tomb until he had no choice but to expose it when her remains were no longer viable. He had to have someone look on the other side. He was desperate to reconnect but for what – what purpose did she serve? 

“Do you know this personally?” 

“I knew of her but we did not converse. I believe my brother monopolized most of her time in Mystic Falls.” 

“So… was she a friend or more…?” 

“I don’t not know and I will warn you again to not pry,” Elijah implied sternly. She bit back her tongue to keep her head attached. 

There was a heaviness in the air, like she was being pushed out. It felt suffocating. 

“Whatever magic they are employing, it’s old and its strong,” she said gravely. She clutched her throat. “It’s hard to breathe. The aura is thick.” 

“What do the spirits say?” 

The spirits were silent. She couldn’t hear them. It troubled her to no end. 

“The spirits can’t help us here,” Sophie whimpered, feeling the effects weigh more on her body. Elijah paused, looking trouble. 

“What do you mean?” He demanded, glaring. 

“This isn’t spirit magic at play,” Sophie exclaimed worriedly. 

This wasn’t her element. This wasn’t her strong suit. She felt blind. If she admitted as much, there was a good chance her corpse wouldn’t even make it across the Atlantic. 

“Why can’t she sense us?” Katherine implored softly. 

Caroline had already notified them of Elijah clearing the corners, his head peering above and about. The witch was undistinguishable except for her long hair. 

“Witches rely on spirit magic; sprites like Claudia divulge their powers from elements. One has a stronger attachment than the other.” Caroline answer in similar volume. 

“Our source of magic is vast and purer. Older, too,” Claudia confirmed, almost impressed with Caroline’s analysis. “We are nature embodied. Witches do not have that direct link. They need mediums to channel the energy. We do not require such third party. It is already within us – if anything, we are the elements in another form. Thus, why some call us Elementals.” 

Explains why you can travel at will to whatever realm you desire, Katherine mused to herself. You aren’t limited by boundaries or physical form. 

“You can overpower her,” Caroline hypothesized. 

“I can incapacitate her by cutting off her source,” Claudia amened. “Spirit magic is a mere inconvenience to us. We do not mingle with the dead or living. We manipulate just what already exists.” 

“How much longer?” Caroline demanded. 

“He does not quit easily. I may need to employ your services,” Claudia stated. Caroline felt herself stiffen and Katherine’s grip tightened. 

“You could take him out,” Caroline accused. “I’m not saying I won’t but I don’t understand why you can’t either. You are powerful enough to alter time and life but you can’t incapacitate either a witch or vampire?” 

“Should I make myself known, they’d recognize there are greater things at work. It is better I stay off the grid, as you say. I do not want them to suspect my involvement. Let them cycle through witches until the city is clean of them. And then let them wallow in their own disappointment and disorder,” Claudia rebuffed. 

“You’re such a sadist,” Katherine shook her head. 

“And if I pop out, he’ll realize I’m not baby vampire Caroline anymore; I’m like him and then he’s going to be asking a different set of questions,” Caroline remarked dryly. 

“Not if you rid him of his eyes,” Claudia hinted. “Kill the witch and let him walk blind. Don’t tell me Kol’s fondness for the harlots has clouded your vision, too?” 

“If I kill her, he’ll suspect someone is intervening, and if that’s the case, there is validity in his search. I don’t want him to stay any longer than he needs. How do we convince him I’m a false lead? Preferably without making a scene.” 

Claudia bore into her back and Caroline knew she damned herself into a corner. She sighed heavily, relishing in the fact she likely wouldn’t feel guilt for whatever she was inclined to do next – not with Kol’s vendetta obstructing her logic and Elijah’s presence antagonizing him further.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5) I thought I'd save my commentary on Claudia towards the end.
> 
> She's a mean little thing - not really a friend, so don't think she's trustworthy. 
> 
> Also - fun fact - Fae hate giving names so she name gave hers; Claudia was coined by a sarcastic Caroline who thought she acted like the vampire girl from INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE and it stuck. She never corrected them. 
> 
> That's my little background spiel! 
> 
> Until next time!


	5. Duluth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Kol was reborn, many deals were made.  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I don't have the energy or creativity yet to produce the chapter for the confrontation (soon!!) here's another background-filler chapter to not only reveal the insidious plans in store, but an OC of mine who will be popping up more. Remember - the Fae is intricately webbed. 
> 
> 1)Warning: brief mention of domestic violence It's important to a character's backstory / motive.  
> 2) Duluth might be more important because of it's position on a greater location - Lake Superior.  
> 3) This is a flashback!

“You caught me at a good time,” the woman mumbled but her tone was less than pleased. The furrowed brows and downward quirk of lips verified as much. She was avoiding her gaze, focusing intensely at the task on hand. She pushed another duffle bag into the bed of her truck, ensuring it was properly locked and sealed. “Any later and I’d be on my way to Alberta.” 

One glance at the weathered pick-up loaded with various equipment indicated she was preparing for a lengthy hunt. The pair of silver coated, black masked dogs barked and romped around the vehicle, exhibing the typical signs of excitement as they anticipated their favorite seasonable pastime. Upright ears and curled tails were tell-tale signs of the breeds lineage. 

Dogs of her land, the sprite mused with a speck of pride. Nearly two hundred years ago, people desperate for new beginnings emigrated across the ocean to settle this strange land that imitated their roots. A home away from home. With them, faithful Fae who flourished in these parts, and their beloved pets: notably, the Skogkatt and the pride of hunters everywhere, the Norwegian Elkhound. Hefty, double coated breeds that conquered the cold with grace and versatility. 

While she prided the choice of dogs as a respectful nod to their shared roots and her sister’s good taste, the sport itself was questionable and the sprite scowled at her sister’s love for it. 

Large, green eyes glared at the hefty stack of cases – one with a vintage (albeit professional grade) bow, an heirloom for good luck, and the other cushioned the hunter’s prize favorite: .30-06 Springfield. All of whom – including the truck – were passed down from a beloved uncle who, if memory served right, succumbed to some sort of disease a decade prior. The humble log cabin a few yards back was also part of the inheritance. 

“Why not Ontario like you usually do?” 

She bit back a retort divulging her disdain for such a frivolous sport but she also knew the hunter in particular was good about making most of the animal. The group she gathered with was another story. Men… who slaughter for the right to brag, cheating with automatic tools. They deprive nature of its share. Wolves starve and men grin, showcasing their shameless trophies. 

The only consolation the sprite took was that her sister was a better hunter than all of them; if it wasn’t for her or her beloved elkhounds, they wouldn’t have half the recognition in the region. She was a professional, damnit, but that wasn’t even her job. 

Just like her stepfather, she was an educator. He was a credited professor at the nearby University of Minnesota teaching economics. She opted for something less… dull. A dutiful student of biology, she taught Conservation at the same university. The irony did not miss either of them but, she was adamant, hunting was a crucial aspect of ecosystem – as well as arguing its cultural significance, too. 

Another fun pastime? Teaching seminars of Mythology for curious Anthropology and History students. Ava Meier, despite taking too much after her human counterpart, did have some redeeming qualities. 

Despite her sister’s claim the sprite cared so little about her to remember the minor details, the sprite was very vigilant in keeping record on Ava Meier. She has been since the girl was born out of wedlock. A Halfling as already worthy of whispers; the fact the Halfling belonged to her proud father and a second generation American-German immigrant was another veil of scandal. 

That was seventy-years ago and within that time span, she had adopted all the sickening human trends as her own. But, if the sprite had to nod something in her favor, she wasn’t completely useless. She had her specialties. 

She had to play nice if she wanted to get her way. Her sister was a hard cookie to crumble and after years of estrangement, her sister was rightfully suspicious of the sprite’s random appearance. The sprite could use reason but first, she’d have to appeal to their familiar bonds. 

The latter was more daunting than the former given they didn’t really nurture any in the last seven decades, give or take the few curious visits… or favors. Of course, Ava would be suspicious seeing as her older sister had a solid pattern. 

She was so in her head she missed most of Ava’s explanation. She was met with a flat stare and a blatant eye roll. 

They had the same color eyes – the vivid green that took over stormy skies. It was their specialty. A family legacy, even. The fact most of her descendants remained in the Great Lakes area was telling: the November Witch was something of a tradition of theirs. No matter how disrespectful the name. Then again, blaming it on a witch may have been their best disguise. 

Notoriety wasn’t always the endgame. 

“Just ask the damn favor already,” she exclaimed in agitation. Her hands suspended in air, cueing her to hasten up. “I don’t have all day…” 

“I need a favor.” 

“I figured that.” 

The sprite scowled. 

“I don’t ask favors from anyone.” 

“No, you usually demand them,” Ava remarked dryly. “I’m not so easily extorted. Damnit, Solveig! I don’t like these games. Ask the question. Make it quick,” she snapped along. 

Solveig bit back the surge of anger that came over her when her sister dared not only make an accusation (regardless of its validity), but the use of her birth name (too informal even for estranged family) was a level of disrespect Solveig had to force herself to pardon in that moment. 

Americans. No matter how far related they may be, or share the same roots, Americans are a whole different breed Solveig couldn’t stomach. Just like the blonde bitch of a vampire she resurrected. 

But she could control the vampire. Her own half-sister? Tried but fail. Miserably. Now she had to resort to negotiating since bribery meant next to nothing to her. If she could articulate the right argument to appeal to her sister’s rational, she’d be right as rain. 

“I need you to tutor someone.” 

Ava’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. 

Solveig knew the spiel. Ava was a businesswoman from her mother’s side. Her grandfather was an avid hunter – whether his excuse to feed his 10 kids was valid or just an excuse to avoid the 10 kids remained debated – but he had the time to escape into the outdoors because his occupation allowed him plenty of luxuries. A man of means, he ran two business: distilling the finest moonshine to come out of Minnesota, off the books of course, and a carpenter by trade. 

Out of his ten kids, all six of his sons took up the same practice. They basically paid themselves by doing their own work. The four daughters were hearty Midwestern women. Only three of them were devout Catholics who happily followed the tradition domesticity of a typical mid-century woman. The youngest was a rebel. She was determined to be a starlet. She had potential and she even featured in a few films. Judy Garland was her local hero. The closest she came to her idol was filming on the opposite studio. She’d only taste the overcast lights once or twice before she met the man that would forever change her life. 

Nine months later, Ava came into the world out of wedlock. 

That man was their father, a Fae who – like many others – mingled with mortals out of curiosity. If there was anything to be said about the late Rosie Meier, she certainly was a beauty. No wonder their father was taken with her. A girl two months shy of nineteen, she had luscious blonde locks and big blue eyes. A real sweetheart. 

Ana may have inherited their father’s colors but the mold was the same as her mother – down to the heart shaped face, small nose, and big, almond eyes. Rosie was the next best thing compared to Veronica Lake in likeness; her daughter was a darker palette and give or take a few inches. 

The only key difference is harsh circumstances and a tough grandfather hardened her skin into ice, opposed to her perpetually romantic mother. A real pioneer woman with a doctorate yet the only thing her grandfather, the late Joseph Meier – the few people she idolized – prized her for is her ability to handle a gun and hit her target. A real Annie Oakley type. 

Still, looking well for someone who could pass for her thirties, her appeal wasn’t her petite package, not for her sister or any self-respecting Fae, for that matter. Rather, her worth from either side’s standpoint stemmed from her intelligence and her self-sufficiency. 

One of the few people Solveig realistically could trust outside her network of conspirators. Even then, some of them had her cautious. Her half-sister wasn’t like that. Her word meant something – her integrity was like a boulder. It could not be moved unless she herself willed it. 

Just the woman Solveig needed. 

It helped they both shared a common nemesis. One Ava had a personal vendetta against. 

“Don’t run circles around me, Solveig,” Ava warned. “Give it to me straight. Who do you want me to tutor?” 

“A kid.” 

“No shit. What’s he got to do with you?” 

Both hardened a glare but Ava was the one Solveig needed to convince. 

“An old friend of mine.” 

“You don’t have many friends. How old?” 

“Kol. Kol Mikaelson.” 

“Kol…? That same Mikaelson as Elijah? That motherfucker?” 

There it was. Interest peaked. The girl can grow up but some wounds can’t be stitched together. The trunk closed shut violently and Solveig has her younger sister’s undivided attention. 

“I owed Kol a favor after intervened on my behalf a while back.” 

“Intervened…? Do I want to know…? And how way back?” 

Usually, Solveig wouldn’t indulge such questioning but Ava required it. She was stingy but thorough. Some transparency was in order. 

“A long, long time ago.” Ava crossed her arms as Solveig hesitated. “1300s. Happy?” 

“Yeah, you old hag. I won’t ask how but I’m assuming it was a big deal. You don’t owe anyone shit. So, he collected. How is a kid intertwined in this?” 

“He is the kid,” Solveig grumbled. 

“Huh? Repeat that again…? I thought he’s like a thousand-years-old.” 

“Have you been living under a rock? Let me give you a recourse,” Solveig snapped, speeding forward. Sensing her threat, the fearless dogs barked at her form. 

“Berry! Biggy! Knock it off!” She yelled. Upon instruction, they backed down, and lied on the ground with anxious eyes upwards. She glowered back to Solveig, waiting for her to continue. 

“He died. White Oak stake. The whole veil thing happened.” 

“You intervened,” she surmised with accusing eyes. “Why? It’s not like you to save someone, let alone a vampire. Debt or no debt. Why not let him…” her eyes casted off somewhere far. A hand flickered aimlessly. “You didn’t have to act on it.” 

“I owed him.” 

“And you saw a bigger opportunity,” Ava gruffly finished, realizing the implication behind her motive. 

“Kol was reborn in his original body. Flesh, blood, mortality, and more importantly, magic. He needs someone to tutor him. Someone I can trust.” 

“Where is he?” 

“With his mother,” Solveig answered, “and in a place untouched by man, witch, or time itself.” 

“Ah – one of those little fairy rings,” Ava spun her fingers dismissively. “Why go through all the trouble? What fate do you have for the poor son of a bitch?” 

“I have everything in order. I have the proper protection. I just need someone I trust to teach Kol everything he needs to know about magic.” 

“I’d ask why you’re so against a witch taking up the position where’d they be better apt but I have an inkling that this is just beyond your distrust of them in general,” Ava observed matter-of-factly. “Which begs the question,” she began suspiciously, “why you’d go out of your way to revive some witch in the first place? Beyond debt – what’s your endgame? Why do you want to keep a witch away from the rest of his kind? Or, I’m assuming, his family, too? What’s with the isolation?” 

Ava might be a bitch on a good day but she was astute when it came to dissecting details. Just the mind Solveig needed to see out her plan. 

“You’re weaponizing him for some old vendetta. A Fae wouldn’t go through all this trouble for a halfling like myself, like alone a witch,” she accused. Her green eyes burned. “Why would I agree to be complicit in something I don’t know the extent of? You’re asking me, a Halfling, to tutor a witch – that doesn’t sound right. We operate different. We manifest elements. Witch’s manipulate magic. I can’t teach a witch – sorry, warlock – something that’s not in his nature!” 

Solveig sighed. 

“Yes, you can, because he doesn’t know. Witch’s nowadays are conditioned by their covens to learn a certain way. The books are written as such. Their bloodline relies on numbers rather than instinct. Kol is a fresh canvas. We can teach him our ways so he can be as close to primitive magic as he can. He’s predated a thousand years back; he’s closer to authentic magic than modern days. Generations have diluted the link; they have to rely on spirit magic as a way to reconnect with their roots. Kol doesn’t not have that disadvantage.” 

“Why would someone like you want to empower him that much?” She demanded. “Why re-condition him to our ways? If given the proper education and practice, he could a real threat. How would that benefit you?” 

Her ways – not Ava’s. Ava’s body was too tainted by mortality to really express her Fae lineage, let alone practice it. There were some strengths, like her intuition, manifesting certain elements, but time manipulation and transfiguration were not. Bodies had limits. Solveig wasn’t limited to her body. That’s what separated sisters. 

Yet, despite her prejudice, Solveig managed to bite back the dig. Ava had the knowledge and capacity to withstand the trial that would be tutoring a young warlock, thwarting plenty of threats looming overhead. 

“I foresee him to be the next Merlin,” Solveig confessed. 

“Merlin?” Ava repeated incredulously. “Why would you want another Merlin? Also, just to state the obvious, don’t word-play with me. Foreseeing is not the same thing as orchestrating. Let’s move this along. Why do you want to craft another Merlin in modern age?” 

“Merlin was understanding of the hierarchical agreement. He was the medium between mortal and magic. The older sages, druids, they knew and faithfully followed the order. They didn’t overstep and those who did, they corrected.” 

“A gatekeeper,” Ava interjected. 

“The discourse between Fae and Witches has always existed but the balance has been sabotaged ever since they defiled the rudimentary rules. They take and take and now, they are encroaching on what’s sacred.” 

“You want to put them back in their place, as second-class practitioners,” Ava hummed in disapproval. “This rivalry is so ridiculous…” she hissed to herself, shaking her head. 

“Ava! Listen to me!” Solveig demanded hotly. “We need to restore the order of things, the right way! The only way to do it is to return to the roots! Old magic needs to be restored,” 

“I’m not saying we need to exterminate the witches! Just to humble them, remind them of their limits, and not to heed further than that!” 

“And how is a second coming of Merlin going to set them back to the basics?” Ava pressed harshly. “What’s to say they’ll even accept him?” 

“We need someone of that power to put them in their place. The Fae could do it…” 

“You just don’t want to muddle your hands in such affairs. You’d rather designate it to your loyal subordinate.” 

“You know the importance of a healthy ecosystem! I’m not saying extinguishing them altogether, even though I’d be ecstatic if that were the case, but all I’m asking is for order. Think about it like your precious moose! You hunt them!” 

“I do,” Ava nodded. 

“You hunt them when they outnumber the rest of the grazing animals, when the DNR say they need to cull the numbers, but if you kill too much, the wolves starve. Order and Balance. Basic rules of Nature. The witches have forsaken it by abusing the elements for their own pursuit for power. We never had to resort to poisoning our own pond.” 

“You can just say we don’t shit where we eat,” Ava supplemented. 

Crude, Solveig thought with a scowl. 

“But they shit where we eat,” Ava amended. “That’s the point you’re making. We’re the wolves starving and they are the hunters depriving the rest of us of sustenance.” 

“And you are the responsible hunter setting the example, abiding by laws already in place,” Solveig analogized, nodding towards her truck of equipment. “I’m not saying they can’t practice. They just have to practice within reason. The last time they meddled, the veil collapsed, and magic went unchecked. The Elements are vulnerable when the supply…” 

“I know how economics works. I lived with a man who made it mandatory table talks for seven years of my life. Spare me the analogy,” Ava hissed. Husband number two of Rosie (nee Meier) wasn’t a favorite. A strict disciplinarian, Solveig assumed. Not the best fit for someone as fierce and independent as Ava. She was too headstrong with a wild streak, a true child of the woods, something her grandfather appreciated. Something Solveig grew to value, too. 

If she could strike a nerve with one man her mother mingled with, perhaps strike two would seal the deal. 

“Witches need to be kept in check and you and I both know they aren’t going to do that themselves.” 

“So, you’d supplant a Merlin to act as your intermediary, to cull them if need be, so you don’t have you,” Ava pursed her lips. Her boot kicked up gravel. “That’s sick and ambitious of you, Solveig. Not to mention how long is this going to take?” 

She was already one foot out. Her side was turned, as if anticipating an early exit. 

“He’s seven months now. If we hasted the process, with personal attention, no distractions, he’ll be able to be on your level.” 

“Fat chance! I’m seventy-eight-years old. I still can’t do half as much as you can and technically, my claim to the elements is stronger than his will ever be. Realistically, he won’t accomplish a fraction of what I can do.” 

“I just need him to hold his own. Against an entire coven. Or more. The basics, Ava. Intuition. To anticipate the future way ahead of anyone else.” 

“Like prophecies,” Ava mused with furrowed brows, “to keep one step ahead… And eliminate threats without having to extend himself. Powerful, overreaching magic… pardoned just for one. No favoritism or agenda, whatsoever,” Ava scoffed. “You know how that looks? What kind of target that puts on him?” 

“Our kind would respect him, too. He’d be fulfilling a very important role. He’d be protected and revered. He could exert some major influence.” 

“If he acts in your favor,” Ava corrected tersely. “How long have you been conspiring with? Who?” 

“It’s been in the talks…” 

“So, a lot,” Ava harrumphed, slapping the exterior of her truck with more might. The tap excited the dogs who yipped and barked around her. “Why not ask them to tutor him, if you have so many conspirators? Unless you don’t trust your own kind not to exploit him…” 

“Question,” Ava quickly posed before Solveig could retort. “Who’d keep him in check, that won’t imply bias? Who’s the authority? Will he be the authority, if you can afford him that kind of trust? Or will there be oversight implemented, just in case someone else takes advantage of him – like the Lady of the Lake, or Morgana? If we’re supposed to take away from the story,” Ava pointed her finger. “I fucking teach this course. I know my shit. Don’t bullshit me.” 

She was mad. Solveig had to tread carefully. 

“Just teach him to hold his own,” Solveig waned. “I don’t intent to hurt him.” 

“Unless he steps out of line,” Ava accused. 

“I’m thinking of the bigger picture,” she remarked. “Think of him like… your dogs…” 

She stiffened. “What about them?” 

“A good dog isn’t just about good breeding. That’s the start of it,” Solveig began slowly. She knew she had Ava’s attention. She loved those dogs more than life itself. It was a Meier thing – those dogs were the best next thing since Moonshine. Always constant companions and kept close. “It’s the training. A good dog doesn’t just stand by and wait for instructions. Sometimes but not all the times. The best ones are like these,” she leaned down to stroke its head. “You train them young. You imprint all the necessary skills they need, not just to do their job, but keep alive, but most importantly, you trust their instincts as much as they trust you. At the end of the day, you release them in good faith they will come back.” 

Ava pondered the analogy heavily. 

“A good dog can be retrained,” Solveig substituted. 

“A good dog doesn’t need to be retrained. Most usually remember what they’re taught. The trick is to start early and keep constant.” 

“If they have a patient, experienced trainer,” Solveig solidified. 

Ava’s expression contorted, visibly torn. 

“So, basically, we’re…” she fumbled with her hand, “training him to act in good faith. You can’t teach kids morals. You can but… sometimes their nature contradicts their teachings. Mistakes can be made and they likely will be.” 

“I never said this was fool proof.” 

“Why would Solveig the Sly cosign a plan that’s not fool proof?” Ava jested sarcastically. 

She merely grinned, feeding the mystery. 

“I thought you’d be personally motivated, too,” she finally acted on her plan. Ava perked a brow. “Did his brother… fraternize with your mother back in the sixties?” 

Ana was visibly agitated, as if reliving the memory. Solveig had tried to pry but Ana was surprisingly tight lipped about the rare encounter with the elusive elder brother. However, rumor was Rosie had a line of suitors from all walks of life. 

“Wasn’t his involvement the beginning of the end of your parents’ marriage?” 

“He was merely a symptom of a greater problem that entangled mother’s dysfunctional life,” Ava grumbled, “but I wouldn’t hesitate to load him up with buckshot for a second time.” 

“You got him a first…?” Solveig asked, impressed. 

Ava paused in her step as she rounded the truck, smiling at the memory. 

“1961,” she reminisced fondly. She was technically her mother’s age – 19 – but she looked no older than 10. Her baby face passed her as younger. Halflings age half as slow as mortals. “The gun I used was grandfather’s favorite browning. Bastard was knocked cold and I left him in sub-zero temperatures. Had eight inches of snow fall. He got a fair share of misery that night.” She shrugged. “He never got me back for it. I think he’s still processing.” 

“What exactly did he do?” Solveig prodded. 

“He underestimated me, and he screwed my mom,” Ava said with final slam – closing the truck bed. 

That was Solveig’s ticket in. 

“He knew your mom was married yet he still stayed the night. Many nights. He broke a happy home.” 

“It wasn’t all that happy but… they were trying to make amends… until he came along,” Ava seethed. “My step-father was a dick but what father in the fifties wasn’t? They weren’t hands on unless it was to keep you in line. That’s the kind of discipline I grew up with. He could be a prick but compared to the others, he had it together. A job at the University. A solid salary. Decent finance management. If my mom stayed with him… maybe she’d be better off. No, she didn’t deserve to burden his temper, and neither did I, when she eventually ran off, but by then he was long gone, too. We never stood a chance as a family.” 

“The Original Vampire ruined that.” 

“He didn’t compel her but he charmed her with this façade of glamour and adventure. She wanted out and he promised an exit. She played the damsel and sang a song of distress; that was her choice. He didn’t save her though. He left her high and dry and with an angry husband waiting at the door. I was there for the aftermath.” She flinched. “Those two made a mess but he’s the one who enabled it; when he got his fill, she had to clean it up, bruises and all,” Ava said lowly with a tremble. Her hands fisted. “When I tried to help, I was pulled by my hair and locked in my room. I won’t forget that night. Her crying non-stop and no one there to help…” she bowed against the rail of her truck bed, breathing deeply. 

Solveig hit the goldmine when Ava spilled that little secret. Solveig knew there was tension between mother and daughter after she left for the cities – and leaving Ava in her grandparents care while she resumed her fourth and final marriage, no matter how brief. Yet, the care she had for her mother. Solveig could sense that in the way she still immortalized her mother as a woman abused. Solveig also knew the resentment she harbored for certain types of men. 

The dogs perked her interest, too. 

“Besides big game, what else do those dogs hunt?”

“They flushed out a Wendigo eight years back,” Ava replied casually. “Got him through the heart and have his head somewhere in the garage. Nasty bugger. Wouldn’t recommend crossing one,” she humored. “His stench wards off the others during wintertime.” 

“Think these boys could take on a vampire?” Solveig joked. 

“I wouldn’t put my dogs in danger like that. Vampire aren’t Moose or Bears. They don’t act on instinct. They thrive on violence. They’re fast but not Vampire fast.” 

“But they are fast enough to lure out a Wendigo…” 

“The Wendigo sought them out when he heard them bark. He just met me instead. Didn’t expect my kind to be out. He caught me on my bad day. I was using the bow.” 

“Tell me – how eager are you to spite Elijah?” 

Her narrowed gaze caught Solveig’s mischievous gleam. 

“And help a bright, innocent little boy grow into amazing potential? Isn’t that an educator’s dream – to build a legacy with the next generation of students? To make the world a better place…?” 

“Don’t guilt me. The sum of your argument is I can help restore balance and order into an age were accountability is scarce, by tutoring a progeny of great potential who will likely become someone of great influence, who just happens to be the little brother of the man I hate?” Ava condensed. 

Solveig nodded. 

“Does he know his brother is alive?” 

“No.” 

“Does he remember anything from the past?” 

“No. Part of the deal is his life as a vampire was scrubbed clean,” and transferred to someone else, but Solveig didn’t specify that part. “His resurrection resumes from the point he was last mortal. He has no recollection whatsoever.” Though side effects may come about later.

“Will they?” Ava asked, as if reading her mind. No, she was just good as covering her details. 

“Perhaps.” 

Ava sneered and looked away, beginning to chuckle darkly. “Wow. This is twisted. His family is torn apart and we’re basically sabotaging it by kidnapping his little brother to fulfill some private feud between who has what right to what…? Boundary disputes? Property rights? Fair use claims? This spits in the face of ethics. Not to mention this could also seep into human trafficking, child labor… ” 

“Put aside morality – and think of the greater good,” Solveig pitched. “Witches would be held accountable, limited to the damage they inflict, and more so, the chain of command will follow. Vampires and werewolves – they’ll shrink back into the shadows when they realize there are greater consequences! No one is above the law of nature! Not even us – we know what we can and cannot do!” 

“Do we? Do you?? You seem to be considering a lot of ethically corrupt points to justify a few wrongs from a long ago past. Last time I checked two wrongs don’t make a right. Why now? Why this? Is there something in the future we need to be worried about?? You have that talent, not me!” 

“I’m asking you to be involved but if you don’t, I’ll find someone else, and maybe the result won’t be as pretty.” Solveig could trust her to switch. She could see the dials turn ever so slowly. “You’re family. You’re experienced. I trust you to not be biased. That’s why I asked. You stand right in the middle. You have the power to teach him all he knows without a secret agenda. You’ll have no ties to this,” she gestured all around, “but to focus on one goal and on goal only: to make him into someone you’d be proud of. You’re doing a good thing to enrich his life in hopes he makes the right decisions. Be the person you wish you had!” 

It was her final ploy. Her last ditched effort to get a genuine ally. Maybe even reunite family bonds. 

“I get to teach him without oversight,” she demanded her terms. Her eyes were beady and fierce, like a cat’s. “I don’t need you dictating my curriculum. He’s going to need all the materials I ask and I know you have the network to procure them. He’s going to need a full rounded education, a liberal one in every sense of the way. I’m not doing this half ass. I’m doing this because I don’t trust you and I can’t sit around knowing a kid like him is going to be exploited for some bullshit power play. He’s being set up and at least I plan to advocate for him.” She licked her lips. “I’ll teach him everything I can so he’s not blindsided by your ambition or whoever else intends to manipulate him for their own gain.” 

“We can discuss travel arrangements later,” she snarled as she headed towards the driver’s side door. 

Solveig eagerly nodded along. 

“If his brother were to interfere,” the sprite insisted. 

Ava met her eyes dead on. “I have no problem blasting his head off, no matter how times it grows back.” 

“And the abomination?” 

“I’ve come across a few Dogmen in my life. Big, furry, fanged beasts ain’t my cup of coffee but none have done me in yet. At the end of the day, on the scale of what I fear most, they don’t make the list. Lots of things have tried to rip me apart in these parts – I have their hides somewhere in the basement for extra insulation.” 

It’s not her armory Solveig coveted but Ava’s talent in producing storms. The Tornadic kind, particularly, or the inland hurricanes that engulfed the rocky coast of Lake Superior. That diversion could do a lot to unarm a meddlesome witch. 

“And the witches…?” 

“The only witch that I respect if the one that casts the November Gales and last time I checked, that’s the Fae’s doing, not some measly coven who can’t even conjure a blizzard.” 

“You sound confident.” 

“I’m pissed and I know I’m being used. The thing is, I give a damn about the kid who has no idea what bullshit he’s been born into. Someone’s got to look out for him.” 

“I have an Original – a vampire who took on his thousand years,” Solveig offered insight. 

“That doesn’t sound pleasant. That’s a lot of strife for anyone to handle.” 

“She’s a quick learner. She’ll deal.” 

A high pitch whistle resounded. She tapped the metal of her car. “Berry! Biggy! Get in the cab! We’re getting a winter’s supply of dinner for you two buffoons! Get – that’s it – in you go!” She ushered the hasty dog inside the back row. The window rolled down revealed two large, blocky head panting in excitement. She glared at Solveig. “You! I’m not in the mood right now. Talk to me when the kid if five! Let him live a little before you load a lifetime’s supply of responsibility on his shoulders! Being an Intermediary ain’t a joke – and neither is losing one’s childhood. Those are my conditions!” 

Solveig watched smugly as the pick-up rolled down the hill and out of sight. 

If Caroline would rival Klaus, supplied by Kol’s bitterness to keep her from going astray; she could prime Ava’s resentment for Elijah to ensure Kol wouldn’t fall into his hands. She would sooner kill him herself, as she stated convincingly. Solveig wasn’t cosigning a plan that wasn’t fool proofed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Timetables are not my strong suit. I'm a writer in the moment.
> 
> That means unfortunately I'm prone to writer's block and the Neil Gaiman methods does help - little short stories in between to add more backstory. 
> 
> It's sloppy sometimes but I hope you bear with me until I finally get major momentum with where I intend for this story to go.


	6. Trondheim, P2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are better left said - and unsaid.  
> Two lovers reunite and foreshadow another reunion in the inevitable future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. This was a tooth puller trying to write - and I did my best to proof read in between. I'll review it later to see if I missed something. 
> 
> 2\. Katherine comes in CLUTCH in this one. My girl needed to have a moment. She's not a damsel. 
> 
> 3\. Caroline once again is not going to be pushed around by anyone. I'm so proud of her. She knows what she wants. Wink-wink. 
> 
> 4\. Warning - major Elijah dislike in this one. Y'all, I told you once - I am not a Stan of this boy. He needs major improvement.

Caroline was an original vampire. Not in the traditional sense but she knew she adopted all of Kol’s strengths as an Original. A thousand years in a body that was barely a fraction of that age. All that power surging through her veins meant nothing when fright paralyzed her entire nervous system. 

How is it, someone like her – someone of her abilities – was terrified of doing what should be a simple task?

Slip under Elijah’s nose, kill the witch, and leave him packing home with nothing. 

Thing was – in the twenty-some years she spent looking after Kol and Katherine, never once did she kill someone. It was her greatest achievement. Not even when she fed. She was always in control and left them dazed at worst. 

She was made a weapon and she hated the fact with every fiber of her being. She rebelled against her. Caroline had made it her own personal mission to not live up to the grizzly legacy imposed upon her. She would break the cycle. She’d never have to resort to such means to make a point. 

Yet, backed into a corner, and weighing her options, Caroline felt victimized all over again. Kol’s hibernating wrath was coursing through her, coaxing her to do something against her will. Her physical nature may crave it, built for it, but she didn’t have to blindly follow instinct. She was better than that. Then there was Elijah who she knew well enough was persistent. The witch was a problem – a problem she was created to solve. 

Someone would have to die. With all the scenarios rummaging through her mind, desperate for an escape, she found none. Katherine’s and Kol’s life were too precariously on the fringe, one mistake and their safe haven would be no more. Katherine’s remaining life would be more shortened than it already was, rifled with stress and fatigue that had plagued her in the previous life. Kol would be exploited and taken prisoner by anyone ambitious enough to harvest his potential. She could see it now – their life in shambles. 

Maybe the Fae would intervene but then that meant everything would be public knowledge. Witches weaponized, Fae unified – opposing each other with great loss of life on either side and in between. 

All that because Caroline Forbes was too selfish for her own morality to not take a life. 

She bowed her head, silently begging for forgiveness. She didn’t want to do this but she couldn’t make this call. It had to be done. A life to save so much more. All burdened on her. 

Kol’s younger face flashed – a boy no older than ten, careless and liberated. Katherine’s excited plans for the future over a night of wine and pretzels, ending in a toast for a fresh start. Her mother taking her hand and keeping her to a promise made: she’d come out alive. Not just survive but alive – a thousand years to account for and truly experience. 

Was it worth depriving someone else of their own? She barely knew this witch but because of terrible circumstance, because of who she knew and who she accompanied on that very night, her life would be swiftly cut short and Caroline was blame for that. 

Would she understand her death was a worthy sacrifice? Was it even that? Caroline began to doubt her own narrative. No, she had to die, and at the root of it, Caroline knew it was to protect the people she loved best. People who – on one end, quivering behind her, deserved a chance to live in peace, and the other, safe and sound and looked after by the Fae, would accomplish a great, many things if given the chance. 

Caroline Forbes. A protector. An Original. She had a duty to fulfill and someone she loved in immediate danger. She had to expel it. If it cost a life, she’d burden it like every other trial she faced. She had a thousand years. It was naïve to think she’d avoid what was engrained in her – to sustain her suspended life. That was the cost of the deal. 

At least this death was to protect more than one life, she forced herself to reason. She wasn’t a monster who killed senselessly. She didn’t do it without thinking. She still has remorse. Her humanity was still intact. She wasn’t going to lose it. 

The reminder of the anguish she felt when her mother died struck her in that moment, a harsh reality check that she’d likely not have survived that loss if it wasn’t for her purpose to protect the two people who were there to help her along in the after math. 

If she lost them, who’d she have? Her humanity wouldn’t survive that kind of tragedy. Was it worth sparing a stranger? Not just any stranger – a meddlesome witch, Claudia indicated. Someone who’s ties to Elijah suggested more insidious intentions. 

If a witch was happy to sell out a stranger, why should Caroline be the one to take the high road? 

“Give me my cue and I’ll do it,” Caroline pressed in obviously agitation. Just because she convinced herself to do it because of what’s on the line didn’t mean she wasn’t content with the fact she’d have to take a life. 

“He’s not letting her out of his sight,” Claudia sighed with similar frustration. “He’s taking his precautions. Lure him out.” 

Katherine mulled it over. 

“Claudia, how effective is your mirage?” Katherine interjected. 

Claudia glared. They were concealed just fine, weren’t they? “What are you planning?” 

“Psychology,” Katherine scheme. “Hit him with something unexpected.” 

“Explain,” Claudia demanded. 

“Two fronts,” Katherine began. “I lure Elijah away. He thinks I’m dead. We’ll let him believe that. I’ll convince him it was a figment of his imagination, a trick of the witches, with your help…” 

“And Caroline uses the opportunity to eliminate the witch without risk of exposure,” the sprite concluded with a hopeful hum of consideration. 

“Katherine, absolutely not,” Caroline growled. 

“I trust Elijah to not say anything other than blame the ruse on some witch conspiracy. He’ll have to,” Katherine sighed heavily. “He saw my body. Not in person but he knows. I’m dead. They all do.” 

“They thought I was dead, too! They had my body!” Caroline jabbed back with icy eyes. “Don’t expose yourself like that! Not for me! Not now!” Or ever, Caroline wanted to add. 

“I’m inclined to agree with Katherine,” Claudia nodded approvingly. “Rest assured, I’ll cover her.” Mind games were a favorite pastime of the sprites – Caroline knew that – and she glared at the girl as she stepped closer to Katherine as if to instigate the plan without Caroline’s vote. 

As if mattered. Caroline was visibly outvoted. 

“I want to say something to him, something I’ve been meaning to for a while, and this can be my chance,” Katherine voiced. Her words were soft but her eyes were hardened, already decided. “Even if he thinks it’s a figment of some illusion. I want to say it, to get it off my mind, and leave it behind me.” 

“If you really want to,” Caroline supported. She steered towards Claudia with hardened eyes. “Look after her. I’m going to intercept the witch. I caught her scent. Be quick; cloud Elijah in whatever smokescreen you have in mind. We’ll meet somewhere safe – outside the building.” 

“The car,” Katherine agreed upon. 

“Have the keys?” Caroline searched her purse. A jangle met flesh and she wrapped them into Katherine’s palm. “Here, lock it when you get in. Claudia, cloud her until she gets in. I’ll meet you at the pub three blocks down from here. The one with the cheap happy hour. He’ll likely go somewhere else – like the posh hotel on the other side of town. He won’t visit a rusty place like that, let alone know of it. That’s safe. I’ll knock on the window and we haul ass not a second later, got it?” 

Katherine nodded and within a moment, embraced the blonde tightly. 

“Stay safe,” Katherine mumbled into her shoulder. 

“I should say the same to you,” Caroline sniffed. 

They dispatched at Claudia’s urgings. 

“He’s watching. Step out. Lead him to the east quarter. It’s obstructed. He’ll follow and search the area after Katherine disappears. Caroline, take the witch to the West. Make it quick.” Claudia instructed. 

“Where?” Katherine asked, looking out into the crowd behind the veil of the mirage. 

“Backwall under the archway leading to another exhibit. He’s shrouded by dim lighting. You’ll see him and the witch. Don’t make eyes – he’ll be watching this area and no doubt see you. Walk towards the back by the restrooms. It’s a dead end and enclosed. Few will see you after the turn.” 

“Wish me luck,” Katherine huffed, squeezing Caroline’s hand. 

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Her stomach was curdling and all she could do was look to Caroline who appeared to be in similar sorts. 

The blonde fixed her face into something fierce. 

“When he starts moving, I’ll grab the witch,” Caroline nodded. She hoped her speed would be undetected by him, if he wasn’t all too enraptured with Katherine. Seconds were precious. 

BREAK 

Katherine knew the feeling of being hunted all too well. 

She wondered if it was too late, if she made a grave error, but her steps were already breaching the veil. She knew Caroline was right behind her but still… knowing, if she dared glance in her peripheral, Elijah was scanning for someone. 

He’d recognize her. She was certain of it. That’s what frightened her. 

Claudia was near her, hovering and disguised. Caroline zipped out of their safe space and into another position. That told Katherine Caroline has witnessed Elijah lock eyes on Katherine’s retreating from. 

It was too late now. Like freefalling off a cliff. Her heart was pounding and she could feel herself leave her body – even for a second – and then, the rest was auto pilot. 

Her back was turned to him, clearly in the open as she made most of the walkway. Her dress fluttered at her feet and she fought the urge to curl the fabric into her nervous fist. Slow steps paced her past mingling faces ignorant of her plight. She probably looked like a ghost, staring ahead with the thousand-yard stare. Goosebumps took hold of her entire body, as did a chill. She knew it was beyond her power now – her plan was in action. 

Don’t look back. Lead him further. 

The hallway leading to the restrooms was scarcely occupied. She could hear her heartbeat thud like she was walking to her own execution block. Her footsteps echoed by a military band, timing down the inevitable. 

Would Elijah register her heartbeat? Would he see past her façade? 

Should she turn around and face him or let him make the first call? 

The heavy deliberation deafened her thoughts, wishing for him kill the ruse. She wished the suspense to end already. 

Claudia lingered near in the form of Katherine’s shadow on the wall – the perfect disguise. 

The air stilled and she felt the heavy presence behind her. The evident footsteps, not too fast to catch attention from patrons, but hesitant, too, as if afraid to startle her. Habits were hard to kill. She had been known to run once in a while if she thought herself being pursued. Of course, he’d be cautious to approach. 

“Katerina…?” 

She paused after a two-step delay. She didn’t dare look back. Not yet. She wished there was a mirror for her to examine herself. She didn’t know what she looked like, if her emotions betrayed her. They likely did, given how hot her face burned. 

“Is that you…?” 

He didn’t approach her. He sounded far enough to be considered a lengthy distance but that didn’t account for much – he could zap himself to her side if he desired. The fact he didn’t make her wonder why – so many questions swirling in her head like a vicious hurricane. 

She swore she detected confusion and something else in his voice. She had to look to verify but she was slow to turn her head, angling her body to follow in similar fashion after she moved the first inch. 

“Is it…?” she countered, deploying her ruse. 

Brown eyes met and she felt her breath leave her lungs. He hadn’t changed. Her heart broke in that moment, acting on suppressed feelings she thought herself rid of. Her eyes glistened and her bottom lip betrayed her, wobbling. 

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” she choked. 

“Katerina,” he stepped ahead but she paused him then and there, holding out her palm to ensure they keep apart. 

“Hi, Elijah.” 

“How are you…?” He was lost. His eyes were bewildered and his stoic expression slipped. His confusion and disbelief made him look younger than he was – she was seeing Elijah in his authentic form. She caught him off guard. 

“Am I…?” she countered once again. “We never did have a proper goodbye.” She bowed her head, allowing some curls to slip loose from her updo. “Looks like this is overdue.” 

He sighed and closed his eyes, gathering his composure. 

“Katerina. You’re dead. I saw your body.” 

“Not in person but yes, I’m buried. They were nice enough to reunite me with my family plot,” she uttered with genuine gratitude. “Was that Klaus repenting? Or you…? No matter whose idea,” she mused while rolling her toes anxiously, “it was appreciated.” 

Her smile was small. She dared not show too much. 

“So, you are dead,” Elijah pointed at her. 

“I’ve been dead a long time,” she answered cryptically. Her smile was grim and sorrowful. “You’d know that.” 

“Katerina…” 

It was weird to see him at a loss for words. It did something to her. Maybe embolden her even. She raised her head high and kept her posture tall. 

“If you want to apologize, you don’t have to. I moved on,” she assured, ready to turn her back. He opened his mouth as if to speak, spiking her interest and pausing her step. 

“Don’t think I’m bitter. I’m not. Not anymore. I haven’t for a long time. Why should I?” She spoke as if to convince herself. She wanted to get the words out. Images flooded her senses – the few faces that brought comfort to her in the past few years. “I have my family back, Elijah,” she said with some semblance of truth. She was relieved to hear herself confident, the opposite of quivering in his presence. 

That struck a chord with him, as if smiting him. He casted his gaze away, anywhere but to meet her own. He was hiding something - a reaction that foretold more turmoil behind the scenes that he relayed. 

“It’s unlike you to be so quiet. Speak your mind, Elijah. It could be your last. That’s why I’m here. I don’t like to linger more than I need to,” she played on words she remembered from conversations long, long ago. Triggering him to speak, she hoped. She was already turning on her heel to apply that extra dose of pressure. “What do you want to say?” 

“Why am I seeing you?” Elijah demanded, agitated. 

“Because I wanted to see you one more time, right? Is that the answer you want to hear?” she mused with a tilt of a head, playing her script coolly. “I don’t know, Elijah. I feel like there should be an exchange of words but I’m at a loss as where to start, if I should even start. The past is dead and buried. I’m dead and buried. What else is there to say?” 

“You’re a ghost,” Elijah accused. 

“Why would I linger here? With you?” she proposed skeptically. Her shoulders shrugged. “I don’t want to haunt you. I need to go back to my family. They need me.” 

“Katerina! Please, wait one second!” Elijah bellowed. He took four more steps to shorten the distance yet they were a car width apart. “Be honest with me. Don’t leave,” he urged as she kept the distance between them. “Not yet. I…” he was falling short of words as he grappled for a pause, something to keep them in place as he found a way to fill the void between them. “I wasn’t expecting this.” 

“Be honest with yourself,” she remarked calmly. With a slow shake of the head, “I have nothing left to give you.” She lifted her arms weakly in surrender and they returned to her side in the same span of time. 

“I’m sorry,” he allowed himself to say though it took a mighty amount of strength to vocalize two words barely loud enough to hear. He met eyes. “I wasn’t there in your last moments.” 

“That’s the thing about death,” she stepped forward. “Once it happens, there are words you can’t say. It’s a now or never kind of thing,” she mused grimly. She felt her eyes dry as she bravely looked ahead, finding her resolve hardening. “I lost count how many times I’ve yearned to see you, to say half the things I’ve had on my mind for hundreds of years, and yet, standing here now, it doesn’t matter,” she blinked with a tight smile. “What’s done is done and all you can do is learn from your own mistakes. That’s the only way to find happiness. I wish I would’ve known that earlier and I would’ve found mine sooner.” 

His eyes pined – maybe not for her but something her words inspired. 

“You look happy,” Elijah confirmed with a steady nod. 

“I am happy,” she consoled blissfully. “I’m free,” she felt herself genuinely smile. No more running. Genuine friendships. Parenthood. Security. All of it – twenty-five years of freedom she was denied in her first life. 

“I’m finally free. I have my family back. My child,” she choked. She blinked away her tears – happy tears, she knew to be. Tears of relief and jubilation. Liberation and absolution and everything in between. “I have them all back.” 

“Are you, Katerina?” Elijah asked with genuine interest. “Are you truly happy?” 

He was seeking absolution. He needed to be pardoned, she figured out. 

“I’m free of it all and I got my family back,” she repeated more positively. She felt like she was beaming. Her face hurt from the facial muscles she was using. 

“Are you telling me that to gloat?” Elijah casted doubt. 

Her smile fell slightly and her brows knitted together, confused by his acidic accusation. 

“Whatever strife in your life is your own. I don’t benefit from your bitterness and I never had. Find your own peace, Elijah, but I can’t play part in it.” She shook her head and began to turn. He quickly closed in behind her. Not enough to touch but hovering. 

“Don’t,” she warned as she saw his hand encroach. “We can’t do that anymore.” 

“Why,” he demanded. Nonetheless, he hand waned and fell back to his side. 

She sighed and stepped out of reach. She still kept her back turned to him. He didn’t move ahead. The distance grew. 

“You made your choice over and over again. I made mine. We’re on different sides now, Elijah. I’ve moved on and you should, too.” Not from just her but his brother, too. He had to pave his own path. 

“Answer me this,” he spoke. “If circumstances were different-”

She cut him off with a raised palm, stopping him short. 

“It’s best we don’t linger on what we can’t change,” she insisted steadfastly. She glanced over her shoulder to offer him a somber smile. “We can’t undo the past. We can only change the outcome of our futures by learning from the mistakes we made. You have time. Not me. Not anymore. I’m where I’ve always meant to be.”

Time was quickly closing. She could envision herself growing old, if time allowed her. Her mortality meant she’d likely expire and she yearned so desperately to make the most of it, to do over all the places she barely had time to appreciate. She wanted to purify them with happier moments. She may not be able to cleanse all of them but she had a bucket list she needed to see through, prioritizing the places with the faces she adored the most. No longer alone, no longer on the run – but at a terrible cost. She didn’t have time to mourn the years shaved off her life expectancy. 

“Why are you here?” He growled, hurt by her subtle rejection. She wouldn’t humor him. She declined his touch. She knew the boundaries and she enforced them. She wouldn’t let him get away with breaching them, not again. The distance was frigid and suffocating. 

“You followed me, not the other way around,” she calmly reminded. “The question you should be asking is why did you follow me? What could I possibly give you?” 

His words fell flat and he settled for deafening silence. 

“If it’s any consolation, I loved you, Elijah. I was a girl who clung onto a someone she trusted and believed to be honorable. No one came to save me, not even you, and I’m okay with that, but I’ll say this. I still think that man I admired and held onto hope for exists,” she delivered without looking back. 

Just not for me, you’re not that man for me, Katherine admitted defeatedly. “He just needs to do the right thing.” 

“What’s that’s supposed to mean?” Elijah argued. 

“That’s for you to decide. I’m no longer in the equation,” Katherine declined. She kept extending the distance despite his cries for her to stop. She looked ahead, surprised her eyes weren’t brimming. I wish I just knew that five-hundred-years-ago. I wish I didn’t waste all that time. But the past can’t be amended, she knew to be true. 

She needed to take her own advice, act on her accord. All those trips she excitedly looked ahead to, with a vibrant blonde beside her and making the most of the small moments. Clinging to the little hand that never let go – even when he grew up to tower her. Those sweet, brown eyes that looked up to her with such awe and devotion – the chance to be a mother came and went, and then returned with a vengeance as she got to move onto the next chapter, seeing him grow into his own person. 

She did that. She reclaimed her life. 

That’s what acceptance and closure felt like? Her heart felt weirdly light. Her stomach was doing flips but she wasn’t crumbling. Her steps never faltered. 

Her name was now hysterical. He was begging for her to come back. Claudia was beside her, boring into her side with those same, enlarged green eyes. Katherine must have vanished behind the mirage. 

“He forgot about the witch,” Claudia mused humorously as Katherine exited the door like a zombie. Everything felt cold. The air bit at her skin. “Good call. Perhaps you still have some versatility after all.” 

“Good for Caroline,” Katherine said softly, still under the spell of her newfound revelation. She didn’t realize her badly her voice cracked. It felt surreal how real it all felt. None of it was a dream. No resentment. No pain. Just cold closure seeping into her bones. The finality of the inevitable. The final breakage. 

She wanted a hug. She wanted Caroline to come back soon. Claudia wasn’t helping. 

She wasn’t mourning Elijah. She was mourning the girl she had been and acknowledging the woman she was now. She was leaving it behind. It’s official now. Elijah knew of her intentions. No more being dragged around. The final link was cut and now she just wanted to cry herself to sleep. Most of the warm tears spilling down her cheeks as the cold air bit her face weren’t from what she predicted; Instead, she was soothed by this overwhelming relief she denied herself since she broke free of the veil. It was long overdue. 

The finale exhale to clear her lungs. 

Validation for finally speaking it into existence; from the person she wanted most to acknowledge it; not just acknowledge, but to hear from her personally, too. 

BREAK 

The witch was easy the separate once Elijah cleared the corner. She was left unattended, enough for Caroline to zip past and tug her out of sight – one arm around her waist and another hand clasped over her mouth to prevent a ruckus. Caroline felt it safe to release her when they retreated outside. 

The cold was blistering but Caroline felt too hot to care. Sophie was sputtering. 

“Who are you?” Caroline asked quietly. Her eyes were tender. She hated this. 

Sophie fixed her gaze on the close blonde, stunned by how swiftly she had carried her away and out of sight. The speed rivaled Elijah’s and given the woman’s demeanor, she did not fear his retribution for daring to intervene.  
“Who are you?” Sophie spat back, staggering in her steps as she sought to put a few more feet between them. The blonde did not mend the difference and stayed rooted, sympathetic in her gaze. 

She took in the woman’s appearance more critically. Average height, blonde hair, blue eyed – conventionally pretty but her temperament didn’t match that of someone capable of inflicting harm. That could be good for me, Sophie thought with a tiny slip of relief, but nothing to catch her off guard. 

“You came with Elijah,” the woman said. There was no accusation in her voice. No malice or hostility. If anything, Sophie detected an ounce of hesitation.

“You know Elijah,” Sophie accused wih a healthy dose of suspicion. Her eyes narrowed. Most people didn’t refer to him in such an informal manner. “By chance, are you Caroline? Caroline Forbes.” 

The woman looked down, as if contemplating something, and then decidedly shook her head. “No.” 

“You hesitated!” 

“Caroline Forbes died twenty-five years ago in Mystic Falls,” she stated with blatant detachment. Her eyes were cast far off – a telltale sign she was deceptive. Sophie gritted her teeth. 

“As so I’ve been told,” Sophie retorted dryly. She had her doubts. This woman was clearly hiding something. 

“You came here to look for her, you and Elijah,” the woman stated. 

“So what? How would you know that??” Sophie rebutted. Was word spreading amongst witches?

“I’ve been told,” Caroline remarked in the style Sophie had spat seconds ago. The woman’s icy glare was hardening. “I don’t have a lot of time, so please work with me here.” 

“Honesty goes both ways,” Sophie raised a stiff brow as she countered the woman’s plea with a degree of difficulty. She wouldn’t be someone else’s pawn. “I’ll tell you what I know if you tell me what you know. Let’s start with names. I’m Sophie Devereaux.” 

“Kari,” the woman reluctantly gave. “Kari Olsen.” 

“How do you know Elijah?” Sophie ordered. 

“We crossed paths before. I don’t know him personally. I just know of him. He had a better reputation that his siblings,” Kari replied evenly. “What about you?” 

“He and his brother are in league with Marcel, a vampire who’s been suppressing witches and punishing them for practicing magic. That was two decades ago,” Sophie sniffed as the cold began to seep under her skin. “Now a select few are being thrown to resurrect some woman but they can’t; it’s impossible! It’s a suicide task because Klaus kills them when they can’t revive her. My friends have been victims of his wrath and now my sister is their latest lamb for slaughter. If I can’t bring this woman back, we’re both dead!” 

“So, it’s true…” Kari sighed defeatedly. Her shoulders slumped and she offered Sophie a sympathetic look – something so genuine it puzzled the witch. “I’m sorry. That’s terribly unfair and I can’t say I know what you’re feeling because you wouldn’t believe me but… I can empathize with having family in peril and feeling helpless. One side is giving you orders but it goes against everything you know. One the other, if you don’t comply, the fate of your family and friends are in grave danger… I’m so sorry, Sophie.” 

“Save your patronizing!” Sophie shouted back, refusing to be manipulated into a false sense of security. 

“I’m not,” Kari frowned. “I’m genuinely sorry that you were dragged into this. I’m sorry that they are slaughtering innocent people to do something no one can do. It’s a meaningless death and I wish I could say they know better…” her brows knitted together in frustration as she pondered. “They never change,” she concluded with a slow shake of her head. She became more agitated, crossing her arms as she reflected. “They never learn…” 

“Do you know something I don’t?” Sophie demanded. She was tired to the prolonged suspense stating the obvious. 

Kari sighed. “I don’t want to kill you. I’m being told on all ends that your death is a necessary evil because of things outside your scope, things I can’t explain to you without endangering my friends and family, but I can’t bring myself to kill you – I can’t justify that!” her hands coiled in her hair, undoing her neat styling. “And if I leave you be, regardless of what little information you know, you’re going to die anyways – because Elijah is his brother’s faithful little pawn and Klaus is completely unhinged – and I can’t say it’s my fault because what I’m dealing with is a completely unrelated situation – but somehow, we need to keep our worlds separate.”

Kari threw her head back and unleashed a deep grunt, scowling as she reviewed her options. 

“People are dying by the day!” Sophie shot back. 

“I know! And it’s terrible and I could do something about! But if I do,” she yelled back, cracking mid-sentence, “I’m going to put people I love in danger and I have to weigh the greater evil. Sacrifice the safety of the few people I hold close to do what I feel is the right thing,” she described as she held out a hand, and then held out the other as if to mock a scale. “Or…” she continued bitterly, “I walk away knowing there is nothing I can do to convince them this is a lost cause. Wherever they walk, its nothing but tragedy after tragedy. That is the Mikaelson way. I can’t do a full-scale redemption for them. That’s a ‘them’ problem. That’s actually a ‘you’ problem because it’s no coincidence where vampires and witches collide, it’s always conflict! I’m not getting dragged into it when I have my own dilemmas!” 

“And how exactly are you involved in this situation, Caroline?” Sophie bared teeth as she questioned Kari’s – she was certain - alias.

She conjured a dark look from the blonde that, for a moment, reminded her to watch her tongue. This wasn’t an ordinary vampire – older, faster, and had it not been for her hesitant nature, Sophie would have likened her closer to the ranks of Elijah. Sophie was humbled for a split second as Kari bore into with calculating eyes. 

“Let me repeat this. Caroline Forbes is dead. She was staked by someone she considered her best friend and left in the woods for hours, abandoned by another she also considered close because everyone was too concerned for Elena Gilbert’s fragile little mind.” Kari growled with a slight tilt. 

“Caroline Forbes died a miserable, lonely death and now she’s being revered by the one guy who promised her the world – the same world Elena Gilbert and her knight in shining amor, Damon, are currently touring. They get to live and Caroline Forbes is dead. How about – you can tell him this – maybe,” she said with a threatening step forward, “just maybe, focus on avenging Caroline before trying to resurrect her? Hmm? Give him a little project to do! Focus his energy on killing people who deserve their comeuppance instead of poor little witches who are tasked with the impossible – because Caroline Forbes can’t be revived. Someone already beat him to it,” she spat. 

Her vampiric features seeped through, flashing black veins and red eyes. Sophie staggered back, newly frightened. 

“You tell Klaus and spineless little brother they can leave her be. If she wanted to be dragged back into such a pitiful existence where she’s someone’s pawn or forced to be complicit in bloodshed she’d never approve of, she would return to his doorstep in a heartbeat to collect on his promise of Paris, Tokyo, or Rome. Tell him that word for word. He’ll know exactly what that means and when he interrogates you on where you heard that from, you tell him it was from a vampire who wants to be left alone, because he wants to be her last love, he needs to stop making vendettas against witches! That if Caroline couldn’t stomach killing twelve witches to save her best friend, why the hell would she approve of slaughtering half the city on her behalf?? Let him know that!” 

Terror overwhelmed her face as Sophie digested her words. 

“You are Caroline, aren’t you?” Sophie accused, aghast. 

Caroline swallowed back her fear, refusing to affirm the witch’s suspicions with a reply of her own. 

“You said someone brought you back – who?” Sophie demanded, grabbing her arm. The blonde violently shrugged it off, nearly breaking Sophie’s wrist. She crutched her aching tendon, hissing back the pain. “Why would someone want to bring you back? Why are you hiding?” 

“It’s not my choice,” Caroline said between clenched teeth, visibly stiff and agitated. “I was brought by someone – no, something – with more magic than you could fathom. Something that has more leverage over me than anyone like you or Klaus or Elijah or any other of them can muster. On top of that, I have people I need to protect and I can’t trust any Mikaelson because of what they’ve done in the past. I need to keep far, far away to make sure my loved one’s are safe from harm. I have my responsibilities and you have yours,” Caroline sighed, releasing some tension. “We’re similar in that respect and I’d hate to hurt you, a stranger who obviously is in a very tight bind and is justified in the fact she’s acting in the manner I would for the same reason – to protect our own – but I can’t get involved or play peacemaker, not anymore. It cost me my life once and now, now I’m back, but I have to abide by someone else’s rules or else the person I vowed to protect will be in danger. We’re at an impasse. Give me any reason or solution to bypass the obvious answer,” Caroline pleaded. 

“Who’s holding leverage over you?” Sophie questioned curiously. 

“Someone who’s really good at keeping out of sight but has way too much oversight,” Caroline cryptically replied. “I already said too much,” she grumbled. “I’m assuming you’re not on vervain, right? Elijah would have made certain of it.” 

Sophie gulped. 

Caroline closed the distance between them. Sophie found herself paralyzed. 

“I don’t want to kill you. I don’t want to play part in that. I’m not like them in that way. Death is the absolute last resort. I’ve been there and I know personally what it feels like to be collateral damage. I can’t make any excuses to become like the people who ruined me,” Caroline cracked towards the end. “I don’t like compulsion either. It’s terrible to lose that kind of autonomy. It’s either this,” she said, gently taking hold of Sophie’s tender cheeks, “or I snap your neck. I can’t find myself to do that. Please, forgive me for what I’m about to do…” 

Sophie reluctantly nodded. The blonde’s pupils dilated and Sophie’s did the same. 

“He’ll kill me,” Sophie choked. Maybe it’d be more humane if Caroline did the favor. The way she handled the witch gently and without scrutiny screamed merciful. If she was who Klaus sought, Sophie could see why Caroline would do her damnedest to escape his clutch. They were opposite sides of the spectrum. Klaus would ruin her. “Maybe if you…” 

“You have a sister whose blood would be on my hands if I terminated your life here and now. I’m giving you a chance to save both your lives and more. Even if I’ll get reprimanded for it. Trust me,” she breathed, touching foreheads as she bent to meet her eyes. “I’ve been there. This is your best chance to survive and end this slaughter. Trust me. Do you?”   
Sophie nodded furiously. 

“You’re not going to remember my name. You won’t remember seeing my face. You’re only going to recall this instruction that, when you encounter Klaus, you’ll say this word for word: ‘If you’re waiting for her come to you doorstep in a hundred years, she needs proof that you’re worth it. If she can’t stomach the death of twelve witches for her best friend, what makes you think she’d condone to the death of more over what can’t be undone?’” 

Caroline soothed back her hair as the woman trembled. Tears laced her eyes and Caroline wiped them aside with soft thumbs. 

“Shh. I’ll get rid of him for you. You then tell him this: ‘when she does come to your doorstep, make sure Elena Gilbert and Damon Salvatore have paid for their crime. They can’t co-exist in the same world’,” Caroline said, trembling herself in the end. “It’s not a permanent solution but temporary enough for you to regroup,” she wished, pulling Sophie into a hug. “I’m so sorry. This isn’t right.” 

BREAK 

Caroline hated resorting to death but if anyone had to, it’d be them. She could stomach their sacrifice. Hell, they had it coming, didn’t they? Klaus was going to kill them eventually. She wasn’t sure why he was biding his time and killing the witches instead. They shouldn’t be on the receiving end of his wrath. 

She rocked Sophie for a spell, pitying the woman who was forced to comply to their schemes to ensure her sister’s well-being. They were in the same shoes. Caroline wanted to spill all her ugly truths to the witch, knowing they’d understand each other, but she couldn’t.

“Take this,” she said, searching her purse for a piece of paper. A pen to match it with came a second later. On her palm, she scribbled a note. She curled it into Sophie’s palms. 

“What does it say?” Sophie whispered, bewildered by the blonde’s kindness. 

“You can look at it if you don’t trust me,” Caroline assured. 

Spare the witch. I don’t agree with collateral damage.   
Kindness, forgiveness, pity – do you have any left for me?  
When I visit, I hope to see her in her good spirits. 

“What makes you think he’ll listen to this?” Sophie fumbled, confused and skeptical. 

“He’s a man of memory with a fondness for keepsakes. He’ll recognize those words. Helps it’s in my handwriting, too,” Caroline gleamed gently. “I don’t make promises lightly.” She patted Sophie’s damp cheek. “I’m in a bind myself but I do have ambition and I do intend to make the most of my thousands of years and I won’t be doing it alone.” She kissed her forehead. “Go back. You likely know Elijah will be angry. Take this – it’s from a friend of mine. It’ll protect you.” 

Sophie was confused to see an agate pressed into her same palm. 

“A friend of mine says it holds protective properties. It’s from the shores of her hometown. She gave it to me as a gift,” Caroline explained, patting her fisted hand to ensure Sophie held it tightly. “I don’t need it as much as you do.” 

“It’s old magic. It’s… heavy…” Sophie weighed the small rock with astonishment. “This type of magic… it’s not from us…” She gauged with widened eyes, suddenly struck with another revelation. 

“It does an abundance of things – if anything else, it’s going to purify and amplify your abilities.” Caroline honed in with serious eyes. “So long it’s in your possession, your magic will strengthen if you allow yourself to concentrate. Use that influence to defend yourself if Elijah or Klaus try to overpower you. Don’t muddle your mind with anything negative – avoid emotions like anger or vengeance – but to really build up its potency, lean on powerful emotions like the love you have for your sister. ” 

“Why does a vampire have a stone like this?” Sophie asked, guarded. 

“It’s surged by the energy of Lake Superior where it was recovered – allowing it to project a barrier for someone like me to repel energies like yours, so I’m harder to detect,” Caroline replied honestly. A secret gift Ava had given to her when they visited the North Shore for the spring. “For someone like you, it’s going to regenerate your magic into its purest form and stabilize it for whatever you intend to do.”

“How do you know this?” 

“I helped my nephew study a few things,” Caroline mused contently. The agate was something she advocated for him to strengthen his natural sensitivity and harness it’s influence – cleansing his mind and focusing his energy to its purest form. 

That, and it reminded her of her favorite sight, which Caroline had to admit was breathtaking. The cold shores of Lake Superior had their charms and had a natural effect of clearing one’s mind. 

“A witch and a vampire…?” 

“Stranger things have happened,” Caroline humored with a weak laugh. For s split second, she thought of her best friend Bonnie. She’d be in her… fifties, maybe? The time she spent hidden in the secret place, that would subject seven whole years… then the nights she retreated behind the barrier… those counted for half… and she came and went with Kol for about… 

Math was never her strong suit. Fae time always warped her understanding. It was a lost cause trying to calculate it last minute. 

She waved it off. “Worst case scenario, you tell Elijah you met someone from his past – Ava. The name will send him packing, I promise you,” she offered with a wink. “It might also explain your lapse of memory, too.” She ‘quoted’ with her fingers. “I can’t say any more than that.” 

For safe measure, she took hold of her face to compel her once more. 

“You will remember that note in your hand and give it to Klaus right away. Do not tell Elijah. You will tell Elijah you met his friend Ava and she relays the message that he needs to make himself scarce. She’d rather not make a scene this evening, so she’s offering him a chance of mercy. He’s not to expect it again. Keep that stone a secret and use it if you feel in danger.” 

Ava had given her full permission to use her name as leverage should she encounter Elijah. Rare but not impossible. The Halfling in question had the misfortune of meeting him twice – and missing her aim once. The first she landed and he was left to pick out buck shot in the midst of sub-zero temperatures. The other? Daring to show his face at her mother’s funeral something in the mid-eighties. He already anticipated her quick triggered temper and a finger to match – darting out of range before her Walther to make it desired mark with milliseconds to spare. 

It was a goddamn forty-five, too! It would’ve blown his brain to bits! Ava ranted uncharacteristically. Sure, they would have grown back, but damn, I wanted to give him the migraine of the century! Just like he’s one to me!

The family wasn’t too happy with her gun-happy antics nor did she explain why she fired at the back of the pews – but she didn’t regret making good on her promise to make an example out of him if he had the stupidity to show his face in her proximity. 

For what? Caroline squawked in amazement. Of all brothers to be pissed at, why Elijah? 

Of course, like any understandable scuff, it came down to her mother. Caroline could empathize. If someone did her mother’s wrong, Caroline would hold grudge, too. 

“You’re going to remember only a good Samaritan helping you up from the hallway after a nasty fall,” Caroline continued to compel, leading Sophie inside by her arm. 

“Thanks…” Sophie blinked, registering her words and Caroline’s guiding hand. “I don’t know how this happened…”

“Of course,” Caroline returned in the native tongue. Perhaps Sophie wouldn’t understand her but the tone was nothing but jovial. She’d infer the good intent. She led her back to the crowd, gesturing her to regroup. “Take care!” She continued the ruse, stepping into the shadows where she knew she could make an easy exit. 

She knew Claudia would already be on her ass for not doing as she told but she was done being Claudia’s pawn. She had one mission and that was to look after Kol. She could do that without Claudia’s oversight. 

Maybe she’d regret it – maybe not – but she wasn’t going to resign to her fate alone after Kol and Katherine move on; she would, too, and call her naïve but she knew just the immortal she intended to give a chance to. 

A hundred years meant nothing to him. Caroline could play the waiting game, too. Hopefully, she figured out how to overcome the nasty side effects of Claudia’s dealings by then. 

She just had to trust Klaus to trust her, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooosh. That was something! Watchya think?? 
> 
> Now I can move onto the meaty stuff! Like major spotlight for Kol who, I know, is severely shadowed here - its for a reason! 
> 
> Y'all know Klaus can be patient but not really - so how you think he's going to react?? That is... dun-dun-dun .... if he finds out! Who knows what wrench will be thrown in from now and then? Hmm... 
> 
> And can we applaud Caroline for having her own ambition? Cmon! She's reclaiming her life just like Katherine but on her own terms. She's already planned out a timetable.


	7. Bergen, P3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caroline reprises her classic role as Klaus Bait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I'm going to spare spoilers  
> 2\. I'll honest - I was biding my time until I thought it was right to move it along to the good stuff BUT my writer's brain was just like .... too much drag, keep er' moving.... so now BAM, right into the action. 
> 
> 3\. Now I can look forward to getting into the meatier stuff.

Was Caroline fooling herself?

No. Caroline was resilient and determined and at the foundation of her very fiber, a decent human being who had unfortunately inherited a dark legacy. She considered the fact she accepted the offer with good intention neutralized the entire ordeal. She’d spite it. She would not let it dictate her life or anyone for that matter.

Regardless of how strong or fierce she could be, she was Caroline the Good Vampire. She would only employ the worst of her nature if required – to protect Kol and Katherine. No other instance would demand such force. She could live without spreading more misery than necessary. And, she mused, if someone was stupid enough to actually threaten either one, well, that was their funeral.

Claudia was furious with her. Had Ava not served as a divider, Caroline was certain she’d be in a world of hurt.

“This is on you two,” the tiny sprite snarled as she retreated to who knows where.

“I know how to handle the bastard and Caroline can manage the other one,” Ava huffed.

Caroline exhaled like she had been suckered punch. Ava helped her keep steady, keeping a firm grip on her arm while Caroline felt herself nearly collapse from the weight of stress. Claudia’s beady glare would haunt her – reminding her just how much she was at the mercy of the little devil.

“You did good,” Ava soothed as she seated Caroline atop the stool. Katherine was beside her in the moment, supplying water and a reassuring rub on the back. Kol was quick to close the door and lock it – as if it would do anything – but the emphasize on the mechanism suggested he took the verbal assault personally.

“You did what was required of you,” Ava consoled. “Your task is only to protect Kol and you did what without bending over to my sister’s cruelty. You sent them off and spared a mess. I think that’s more effective than leaving a trail for an angry Original. You played it smart.”

Katherine was embracing her, squeezing tight.

When Kol came into reach, Caroline pulled him in and kept him locked in her free arm. His hand came around to rest over her shoulder.

She needed her family.

“Why am I such a fuss?” Kol demanded, glaring at no one in particular. “I can protect myself just fine.” His eyes mellowed when he glanced down at Caroline. “Why does she need to always put herself on the line?”

Ava looked him in the eyes. “You’re a powerful warlock but you’re easy pickings for someone like Klaus or Elijah. It’s not their strike but their persistence you need to be worried about. Her job is to keep them at bay. If you were to fall into their clutches, you won’t see the light of day again.”

“But they were looking for her, right? What do they want with her?” Kol stressed, rubbing circles into her back. Everyone could detect the edge of panic in his voice. “Why does not one tell me this? I could have protected her!”

“And expose yourself?” Caroline interjected before Ava could. “No. Kol, you have to trust me. Right now, you need to stay out of sight. You can’t be dragged into this.” She leaned into him. “I’m a big girl. I can handle this.”

“What do they want with you?” Kol urged, cradling her head under his chin.

He was tall and imposing in figure and sure, to others maybe he had a stern expression, but she knew better. He was still a child to her. He had so much power coursing through his veins. Had they been on opposing sides, she’d be rightfully frightened, but she wasn’t because she knew him to be a curious child and no more. He didn’t mean harm.

Until that moment and she realized her nephew was capable of something much worse.

She felt him quiver and anger was a dangerous emotion to rely on. She soothed him the best she could, rolling her knuckles down his back. It’s hard to relate the giant holding her like a ragdoll to the small boy that would climb into her lap. Yet, the influence she could exert to calm him down was still effective.

It was hard to swallow her own anger.

It was becoming quickly apparent Kol and Klaus or any sibling of his could not exist in the same realm. Not without discourse. All she could feel was hot anger consume her upper half. Her heart was pounding so loud blood rushed to her ears.

_That’s not me,_ she desperately thought as a means to suppress the feeling.

She didn’t hate Elijah or Klaus. The delayed moment outside the museum where the mere thought of Klaus resurrecting her didn’t strike a reaction as much as the reminder of Elena or Damon running free. Her vengeance was fueled by someone else’s and she condemned two people to death on a mere impulse. Two people she shouldn’t have thought twice about considering how eager she was to move on.

Yet, the way Kol held onto her, inquiring about the motives of his elder brother had conjured another hasty reaction from her inner gut that tasted like iron and vomit and just plain nasty. It was an unsettling feeling.

The contact only worsened the intensity. It was like Kol’s self was reaffirming his resentment as the proximity was measured only by layers of fabric.

The reality that so long Kol existed, she’d be conditioned to resent Klaus just as he did. That terrible emotion that consumed her – the final wave of anger and betrayal that took over his being as he burned stained his soul; the very piece she nurtured in her own chest. She’d be forever burdened with that and so long Kol was in the picture, she’d chose the boy she knew without a doubt she loved. Not romantically, of course not, but as a mother would a son. It was a powerful sentiment.

Yet, the idea of being without Kol burned her, too. She couldn’t imagine an existence without him. It was double edged sword because, while she idealized the idea of making the most of her extended life, it meant choosing one brother over the other, or waiting for the younger to succumb to his given mortality. To count down the days, like some New Years’ Ball Drop, and anticipating his last breath seemed unfathomable. 

How could she count down the days of losing someone she adored and cherished to be with someone she had learned only hours ago was still a man who had leaps to make? Is that what she was yearning to go back to?

She had decades until that decision had to be made but would that time suffice? Between then and later, would he worsen or improve? If she intervened now, would it make a difference?

She made her choice and never let go of Kol, determined to see through her promise. Not out of obligation but out of genuine love. She was rational enough to know Kol’s well-being would be in peril if those two words collided. He was family and family took precedent.

That was something Klaus and Caroline could see eye to eye on. She wondered if he’d understand her reasoning should he ever confront her. If he’d hold it against her she hid Kol from under his nose.

Kids always come first – even if one was twenty-five. Kol was basically an infant considering his brothers and sister surpassed a thousand. Generously, he’d make it to a hundred. Caroline had to make it count. Katherine, too.

“Hey, hey,” she attempted to dismiss. “It’s Christmas time! Let’s not focus on something like this. It was a close call at best and now, since it’s taken care of, we can go back to what we know!” She forced a smile and upbeat voice.

Kol and Katherine exchanged heavy, hesitant looks.

“We’re not naïve to think this won’t be a problem,” Katherine countered gravely. She fixed a grip around Caroline’s shoulders, rocking her. “We can’t pretend it away and hope they don’t come.”

“They don’t know about Kol or you, that’s all that matters,” Caroline patted her forearm lovingly. She leaned into her embrace with a content smile.

“Isn’t there something I can do?” Kol pleaded to Ava. “I feel useless! What’s the point of training me if I can’t do anything to protect her?”

“This is between her and Klaus. She’ll solve it just like she’s done before. It’s not something you need to involve yourself with,” Ava replied confidently. Unlike Kol, Ava knew the greater extent of the relationship between the two.

It happened over the decade as the two progressed from mere acquaintances to genuine friends. She had transitioned from Kol’s tutor to a trusted confident, a hunting buddy, and older mentor to Caroline.

“I trust Caroline to handle it,” Ava assured but without the threat that Caroline had been accustomed to from her older, smaller, and more nefarious sister. _In her own way, as she always has,_ Ava left unsaid but her eyes spoke volumes. Ava’s calmer tone and confidence assuaged some of the vampire’s stress and she could feel herself relax by the second.

BREAK

_Kol is getting older and you’ll need to step off the pedal; let him take the wheel._

Ava instructed as much before on a cold, early Minnesotan morning as they strolled the lakeside. It was peaceful with mild waves crashing ashore, freshwater air cleansing the evergreen atmosphere, and lively birds fluttering about.

Kol and Katherine could be heard from behind. He was thirteen or fourteen at that point. He was making the most of the surroundings, savoring the walk alongside his mom. Her steps were slower, cautious of treading the uneven trail rife with embedded rocks and treacherous, low-hanging limbs impeding the path.

She looked different – more relaxed; grounded. The fall weather was chillier than expected, so most of them played it safe. Caroline borrowed one of Ava’s heavier duty zip-ups while Katherine brought her own cozy knit to combat the cold. Kol looked like a hunter in his orange vest and utility button up. Something she salvaged from a younger relative left behind. It fit Kol like a glove.

He’d been egging Ava on to let him accompany them on their next hunt. He even toyed around with one of her vintage guns hung on the wall before she and Caroline both simultaneously reprimanded him for being so careless. That was some days ago and the tiff was forgotten about.

She killed any incentive of his to join them when she showed him the Wendigo head in the garage. He was so startled by the monstrosity that he regressed back to a mere boy, clinging to Katherine with evident fright in his eyes. Caroline knew of it but she was spared the sight. Ava had warned her ahead of time to steer clear of the detached garage – oddities of various cryptids she had encountered were stored there and weren’t pleasant for the faint of heart.

_That’s why you stay here and not out there, you hear me, boy? No gun is going to protect you if you ain’t prepared to face one of these – got that?_

Caroline wanted to argue that it was cruel of Ava to resort to such means but at the same time, Kol had learned a valuable lesson. He hadn’t touched a gun since and he kept close to the cabin, keeping a wary eye on the far-off wilderness.

Katherine fixated on his hair, joking about its length and combing it back to prove her point. He shook off her hand and pouted, dismissing the entire thing, and shaking his head to demonstrate his point that he could still see fine.

It was wonderful to see Katherine in her prime. The way she coddled Kol, claiming him as her own as she ought to. She conceived him, birthed him, and raised him – by all accounts, he was hers, and the scene Caroline was witnessing verified the obvious.

Moments like this where the two could flourish enlightened Caroline. The scene made her feel like she helped accomplish something great. The way Kol mimicked Caroline when she was young, complaining about her mother’s prodding, was a bittersweet wave of nostalgia.

Spending weeks in Duluth had become an annual tradition. The cabin they stayed at was small but they didn’t mind. It was the experience that counted. Kol got to play chicken with the cold waves washing ashore; Katherine could relax on the porch with a cup of coffee and rest for hours at a time; Caroline relished in another friendship hiking in the woods or scouting big game with Ava. She desperately needed that comradery without the taint of secrets.

In the meanwhile, they cherished the time spent in the simple charm of the two-bedroom cabin. The roaring wood burning fireplace, the wall of photos telling a story dated back to the 1890s, and Ava’s willingness to share her various encounters of the deep woods to a beguiled teen. Good old ghost stories of the morbid variety, spooky spectors of the Great Lake Superior, and family shenanigans of the prohibition era.

It offered some semblance of normalcy Caroline coveted and clung to for the rest of her days. She knew Ava, too, would succumb to age, but not as quickly as Kol or Katherine. She would jar up those memories made like she did fireflies on Summer nights.

But they used their time away to discuss deeper topics, too. The way Kol grew in a blink of an eye really emphasized their lack of time. The anxiety loomed over Caroline like heavy winds as November would kick up another inland hurricane over the vast body of water.

_Solveig has her own intentions,_ Ava warned. There was no love lost between siblings. Ava was just as suspicious of her scheming sister as Caroline was of the sprite. _Listen closely: you did as you were told. You kept him safe and looked out for him, up until he’s on his own two feet. Beyond that, it’s up to him what he desires of his life. He never agreed to be Solveig’s subordinate or anything of the like. He collected on a debt and that should make them even. If she’s trying to pull a mile out of an inch, it’s up to us to throw a wrench in that plan._

Although establishing they were on the same team, taking on a task of foiling the sprite’s plan was more daunting. Their own inner coup. Caroline’s done worse for less, right?

_We can’t involve his siblings,_ Caroline declared. She wasn’t sure if it was her own intuition or Kol’s past-self seeping through with his own input.

_No shit. I wouldn’t trust Elijah not to lock him up and toss the key. Anything that threatens their need for control is damned. Kol is no exception._ Ava spoke callously and cynically.

_Why do you distrust Elijah so much?_ Caroline asked curiously.

_For a man of his word, he’s a rotten hypocrite._ Ava hissed.

_If you don’t mind me asking…_ Caroline knew they had met personally but wasn’t sure to what extent. _How’d you actually meet?_

_He messed around with my mom when she was struggling. She was a condemned housewife desperate for an escape from a miserable marriage. He came along promising everything her little heart desired and after a few nights, he had the audacity to call her loose and said it’d be best for her to return to family. He played her like a fool and she came back to clean up a mess he had no problem creating. She was beaten black and blue and his so-called savior complex was suddenly nowhere to be seen._

_How do you know all of this?_ Caroline asked, stunned by Elijah’s cold demeanor.

_I overheard them. He dropped her off at the porch and chastised her one more time for good measure. Then,_ she mused with a dry grin, _I asked around town to see where he was staying. Found out he had a place by the resort. Locals here can spot a foreigner easy and they tend to keep an eye out just in case they act out of line. That was in my favor. I was blind with vengeance. I asked my grandfather if I could borrow his best buckshot and as if he knew my intention, gave me an extra pack and muffler._

Caroline could only stare with her mouth ajar.

_When you’re like me, you have the advantage of stealth. The blizzard covered my tracks. I caught him by surprise. He didn’t see me or hear me until I already pulled the trigger. I didn’t know what he was until someone told me he was a Mikaelson and what a Mikaelson meant._ She simply shrugged as the carried the story along. _He never came after me. Maybe he thought I was just a misguided child with decent aim. I swore I wouldn’t miss if he showed his face. Idiot had the balls to come to my mother’s funeral twenty some years later. I already had my gun ready in case her pitiful ex showed up but I didn’t expect another to rear his ugly mug. Nonetheless, I shot, he dipped, and I ain’t seen him since. I hope to keep it that way._

_How did your mother pass away, if you don’t mind me asking?_

  1. _63 years old. She had her whole life ahead of her and instead, some asshole introduced her to heroin. We don’t talk about her much in the family. It’s kind of nice to be open about her. I wasn’t there when she passed. She was something in a rough part of Minneapolis. My uncle was the one to retrieve her remains and told us kids she died of hypothermia to explain the dark coloring. She wasn’t a terrible person. She just wanted more out of life than this and she made a lot of bad choices trusting the wrong men. I can’t fault her for not knowing better. I’m glad she’s no longer in pain._



Caroline thought about how tainted their views were about Elijah – Katherine and Ava both as slighted women but in a perspective centered around Kol, Caroline could understand their distrust with greater respect. He was just as complicit in suppressing Kol as a paranoid Klaus. Hell, Elijah himself was victim to such tyranny, and yet he came back to his brother’s side. Nothing in their eyes could redeem Elijah since he didn’t exhibit an ounce of chance. Even Kol in his last words before reincarnation condemned Elijah as a blind fool. So much bitterness going around…

Forgiveness was one hell of a thing but neither Ava nor Katherine possessed it, not to the extent Caroline did. They were older, ravaged by time and torment of seeing their loved ones perish in terrible ways. One to slaughter, the other to addiction – all of whom fatally encountered an Original. They had to blame someone.

Thing is – Caroline couldn’t blame Klaus. He wasn’t the one with the dagger. And would she condemn him then if he pursued Elena? Back then, her blind loyalty would have propelled her to think so. Now, in retrospect, she knew better. She wouldn’t have blamed him for seeking vengeance for his brother if she wasn’t so clouded by small town lenses. If he had, perhaps maybe she would be around, too.

Time can ease wounds. _Faster for her than the others_ , she observed, visibly aggrieved.

She wondered if Klaus would rethink his approach if granted an unexpected second chance. If he granted leniency to Tyler on behest of Caroline, perhaps he’d listen to her before he acted irrationally towards Kol… Tyler was an insignificant boy to fulfill his hybrid dreams; Kol was his flesh and blood.

_He’s not going to need you to hold his hand forever. You have to listen to Katherine and your mother – find your own life and someone to share it with. If it’s his brother – who I have no bias against since I never met the man – then that’s your own prerogative. Kol will always be there, until he’s not, but it’s not like you need to be his shadow._

_But Kol…_

_Kol and Klaus are different. They might not be able to co-exist in the same space, not now, but the world is big enough for them to figure out a way to bide their time apart until you decide to pull off some miracle. Trust me on that,_ Ava pressed with a hard tap on her wrist. _At some point, you need to let him be a man, and trust that you raised him well to make do on his own. You need to move on and make something of your life!_

_Don’t look at me like that,_ Ava huffed as she spied Caroline’s eyes go adrift with a thousand scenarios. _You crawled your way back to life and make plenty of sacrifices to get him this far,_ she said as she casted proud eyes to the rambunctious boy terrorizing his mom with an insect he found under a rock. _You got some ways to go and then you have God knows how many years left to make the most of. You’re done asking **anyone** for permission. If you’re worried about them, I think they’ll understand more than you think. _

BREAK

“I’m not in peril. Klaus won’t hurt me – and you won’t hurt you,” Caroline uttered aloud. Kol was surprised by her admission. “Not intentionally. He loves us… in some misguided way. Right now, we should celebrate Christmas as intended and let them deal with their own mess. When they come back, we’ll deal with them.”

Katherine shuffled, knowing she wasn’t in the same favor.

Caroline offered a sympathetic hand and squeezed hard. _I won’t let him hurt you either,_ she left unspoken but the promise was translated just fine. The first thing that crossed Caroline’s mind was to get her out of town – Ava’s nod supplied the support Caroline needed. Katherine would safe out of either’s clutch when guarded by the Halfling.

“You are also right, Kol,” Caroline validated the young man. She knew herself how awful it felt being in the dark and sheltered from some terrible unknown. She was human then; he was not. He had an advantage her younger self lacked. “You are experienced and your magic should not go unappreciated. You are entitled to know what’s happening and I promise to be as transparent as I can with you. It won’t be pleasant but you need to adapt. I can only do so much.”

Kol exhaled and looked almost… relieved. Like he was finally being validated after years of endless learning. In a way, Caroline sympathized how he was likened to a modern-day Rapunzel.

“How do you feel about going against your family?” Katherine inquired with concern. She was hesitant to put Kol in such a position and Caroline empathized.

“I remember being told I did it before,” Kol shrugged, “and I honestly can’t remember them. You two are the ones I grew up with and I’m not going to abandon you for people I barely know. Aren’t these the same kin who left me to rot in a box and then let me die? All over a cure they didn’t even use?”

Caroline suppressed the spike of rage that overcame her. She refused to let the bile pour out of her mouth to further poison Kol. His past was concluded; it did not need to mesh with the present. Her eyes sealed shut and she referred back to her usual coping mechanism.

“We’re not doing any of that,” Caroline declared as an idea struck her. She pushed away from them and walked out of reach, intending to round the corner and into the slip of space between the attached counter and island.

“Where are you going?” Katherine asked as her eyes followed Caroline’s furious form dart around the hefty block.

“I’m reprising my role as the blonde distraction,” Caroline harrumphed as she fixed her position on the other side, facing all three. “I’m going to be Klaus bait. My classic act,” she pushed through sharp teeth.

“Caroline, no,” Katherine whispered in horror. She made a move to intercept her but Kol sensed that Caroline wouldn’t appreciate the distraction. He intervened before Katherine could make distance, pulling her back and keeping her in place with a firm hand around her forearm.

She stared down at his offending hand, knotting her brows and almost letting her frustration show but his calm expression triggered a different reaction from the smaller brunette. She paused, took in his features, and followed his lead. He trusted Caroline and so would she. They’d hear her out.

“No,” Caroline insisted, slapping her hand on the flat surface with more strength than required. “I’m not going to sit here and take orders from your bitch of a sister, _no offense, Ava_ ,” Caroline amended with a dramatic change of tone, softening when she steered towards the Halfling.

“Oh, none taken. She is,” Ava nodded along enthusiastically in full agreement. She watched Caroline assume a different role – taking charge like a natural leader Ava suspected her to be. She wouldn’t interrupt, anticipating Caroline to break – for the better. “Speak plainly.”

“I’m not going to be micromanaged to act this way or that way,” Caroline hissed. Her eyes hardened and her face smoothed over. She was done being a puppet. She wasn’t Miss Mystic Falls anymore. She was reclaiming her own destiny.

“I’m also not going to sitting her like a duck waiting for some Original to hunt me down. I’m not scared of them. You’re not scared of them. You sure as hell never were and I don’t think you will be in this life either, not with the power your charged with,” Caroline addressed both Ava and Kol in succession. Brown and Green eyes stared back with little objection. “Katherine, you’ve spent your entire life running. No more. They don’t get to make the demands anymore.”

“How are we going to go about that?” Ava asked with genuine interest. “What’s the plan?”

“First, we need to intercept Klaus. I’m easy bait. Hook, line, and sinker. He loves the game of chase – it’s our thing, just like champagne,” she waved off. She’d save the latter for another idea, noted by the gleam in her eyes. “We can’t interject Kol or Katherine into his direct line of sight.” It’d be too dangerous and they would be considered collateral damage. She needed to monopolize his attention.

No one interrupted. She continued to speak, surged with confidence that came with being unquestioned and trusted by her loved ones. She turned to Ava, the woman being intrigued and – much to Caroline’s relief – agreeable. Not a trace of doubt lingered in her features. Hopefully, that wouldn’t change after Caroline made her proposal.

“Ava, if you will, could you be my intermediary? I’ll plant clues and tidbits of communication, just enough to garner his attention but he can’t get much beyond the generic stuff I give him. No location, no time – just enough for him to know I’m alive and maybe, just maybe, there’s a future – that’ll be enough for him to divert his attention. He’s been at this for hundreds of years. Hundred more won’t kill him. This is the long haul; my strategy to bide you two plenty of time to get where you need to go.” She said, nodding to mother-and-son.

“Of course,” Ava smiled. “How should I go about that?”

“First,” Caroline detoured to Kol. “I need you to use your magic. Yours, too,” she nodded curtly to Ava. “You two have superior magic compared to anyone else. If I send a message, it needs to discreet. Nothing that can be traced or shared. I know that’s possible. Kol, Ava, I need you to fabricate something to shroud my words so no one else can intercept it, especially your sister.”

“Easy. She can’t decode my stuff,” Ava chuckled. “Certainly. privacy can be guaranteed. It’s our specialty. You can trust that no witch will be able to decipher or even detect my interference.”

“Absolutely,” Kol grinned. “Are we talking visions…?”

“Or through mediums like a ghost page or something written in sand under water, only witnessed by the person intended…? Both are plausible,” Ava suggested.

Caroline originally didn’t think her options were that diverse when she spontaneously decided to take action, so she allowed herself a moment to ponder.

“In your expert opinion, what would you recommend?”

“If you want to avoid the detection of Fae magic, personal delivery will have to suffice,” Ava insisted with a shrug. “If you opt out of that, Klaus will figure out superior magic is being used, and then deduct that Fae are involved, which… could lead to further complications…” she weighed with her hands. “We want to limit his scope of imagination here.”

“And if I intervene, he’ll think its older witch magic at play – which it is,” Kol gestured aimlessly with a loose hand, “and that would be sufficient cover for you. No suspicion of Faes, which lessens the risk of other foreseeable complications…”

“But it’d be traced back to you, an unknown witch, whom we’re all aware Klaus has no qualms pursuing if it means gathering answers.”

“So, more players,” Caroline gathered, “to complicate the map of connections. Kol can practice his magic, which will be hard to decipher, and as an additional measure of security, Ava can be more or a less personified encryption. You wouldn’t carry his trace of magic and can easily evade Klaus or Elijah if they try to reprimand you.”

Analytically, yes, the sounded like it was solid but Caroline had to account that Ava would have a larger participant role, given how Kol’s lingering resentment may be stirred up again and foil their own efforts if Caroline couldn’t cap his visceral reaction down. Kol was a talented practitioner but she also had to test the waters to see if his proximity would pose a risk, too. Warped magic influenced by such violent emotions could have catastrophic results.

She couldn’t afford to be thwarted by lousy focus.

“Lots of curves in the road,” Ava nodded along. “My ability to meddle with the atmosphere will sabotage their magical currents. They won’t be able to harness enough to make a breakthrough. That’s enough of a cover for me slip in and dip out. I think I can manage that. I can muster a hurricane every now and then on the lake; a microburst over New Orleans isn’t that hard to conjure.”

“You’re okay possibly encountering Klaus or Elijah?” Caroline asked with hesitance. She’d understand if Ava wanted to back out. She was giving her the chance, should she reconsider her part.

Ava leaned forward with a grin. “They don’t scare me. They won’t even see me. If they do, I take immense pleasure terrorizing that dick, Elijah.”

Caroline exhaled, not realizing she had grown stiff with anticipation.

“And other vampires?” Katherine seconded with reservation. “They are cruel to anyone practicing magic within city limits.”

“You’re forgetting my state was the first to employ a supernatural restriction,” Ava hummed proudly. “ _The O’Connor Layover Agreement_. The peak of prohibition. Maybe not Minnesota’s finest moment but hell, we brewed the best moonshine in the country. Criminals check in, promise to abide by the law within capitol limits, and supply a generous donation to the city police. In return, they get shelter, left to their own devices, and tipped off early by the local authorities if Edgar and his boy were in pursuit.”

Ava reclined back, reminiscing with immense gratification. 

“Certified and employed by the Fae themselves. Those Fae are a bit uppity – mainly because they were run by the Irish – but that’s a whole different type of politics. Heard the Mikaelson clan got a swift kick in the rear after violating the terms and ran with the tails behind their legs. Something about being made an example and Fae can be crafty little devils. Witches weren’t realty welcomed either but that’s frivolous stuff.”

“You weren’t alive then. You were born in… 1940…” Kol smirked as he prodded along, teasing his teacher as he normally would.

Katherine elbowed him in his chest, earning a whine from the bruised man.

“Respect your teacher,” Katherine hissed.

“Thank you, Katie, and it was 1942, you little shit,” she cracked back with a glare. “Where’d your manners go? And I don’t look a day over forty, thank you very much,” she scoffed.

She returned to her story passionately. “My granddad knew someone on the ‘city council’. He told me a lot of shit went down behind hotel doors between in the 20s. That’s where all the deals were made. He just happened to be a popular bootlegger with the finest Minnesota 13 straight from Stearns County. Stearns County was a whole different world of its own, by the way. This was all before he relocated to quiet charms of Duluth. It wasn’t until I got into leagues with the Duluth council when I looked into the archives and got into talks with some older fellows who enlightened to the things the Old Guard got into. The Old Guard was, of course, the corrupt cops, but above them, was the Fae who let bygones be bygones… _Y’all need to tell me to stop because I won’t_!” She cried out when she caught all sets of eyes descended upon her mid-lecture.

“Would you feel comfortable navigating something like that?” Caroline asked for safe measure.

Ava looked her dead on. “They won’t even know I’m there and if they do, they won’t know what hit them.”

“Now we just have to disguise the message,” Kol volunteered eagerly.

“Caroline, I’m not going to stop you,” Katherine pitched lowly, “but I know what it’s like to lead Klaus on a goose chase. He’s going to want to do things his way, on his time, and you have to be a step ahead of him. He’s going to get impatient and lash out. Are you prepared for that?”

Caroline had weighed that reality. It not as if she hadn’t pushed him before. She was rewarded with a venomous bite that, had she not appealed to him in her dying moments, would’ve done her in. She had to trust he still loved her. She didn’t want to deem his affection as something to weaponize but she knew her endeavor was playing dirty – leveraging the idea of hope for him to follow but holding him back significantly.

She knew she wanted to return to him, to play out the promise he sang sweetly in her young, naïve ears, but not now. She had to redefine the map to her advantage. She couldn’t let him command the field like he was accustomed to. It wasn’t a matter of _if_ but a matter of _when_ – a variable she had to commandeer as her own.

“I’m an Original,” she said more so to herself. “I have to start thinking like one. This… this is nothing new. I’ve done it before on a smaller scale, when I was just a baby vampire, but now I’m in the big leagues. I’m going to be expecting worse coming my way. I need to stop playing it safe and prove my worth here.” _It’s about time I show the rest of the world I’m not scared, little Caroline anymore_.

Three set of eyes ascended on her. She looked at each and every one of them.

“I have all of you, too. I have five hundred years of expertise,” she validated Katherine. She turned to Kol beside her. “I have a thousand years of instincts, thanks to you, and someone taught by the best to do things beyond our imaginations.” A slight tilt steered her to Ava. “I have you, a woman who knows her ways around circles, and is positively fearless.”

She smiled all around. “I wouldn’t have pitched this idea if I didn’t feel confident with you behind me. I don’t want you to think I’m not doing this for you. Katherine, you deserve to treasure your years left on this earth peacefully; Kol, you took a great risk to get where you are and I’m not going to let anyone set you back; Ava, you’ve become more than just a tutor – you’re a true ally and I couldn’t ask for a better advisor.”

“Hey, if we’re going to get sappy, let’s get a drink to pour some shots. The true German way!” Ava cheered, vacating her seat in search of the beverage.

“Half German,” Katherine teased. Ava rewarded with a middle finger.

“I’m only Norwegian through my Fae heritage – besides that, I’m a third generation German-American. I can out drink all you bastards,” she retorted haughtily, raising the strong-proof glass from Caroline’s secret stash. “Get those glasses ready!”

“I’m in,” Kol clapped with a rowdy cheer.

“Is drinking really good for the warlock? Won’t that effect his focus?” Katherine decreed, feigning concern. Kol returned a dry expression at his mother. She simply hiked a brow and pursed her lips to suppress a grin. She wouldn’t never not give him grief for drinking – it was a motherly thing to do.

“No spell casting under the influence,” Ava seconded. “Here, here!” She poured generous fills for the four glasses.

“Wait, we need to toast!” Caroline covered the collection with her hand before anyone could grab their own. They abided, taking their own after Caroline released her hold.

“To Alcoholics,” Caroline began, teasing Ava.

“Those are Wisconsinites,” Ava snorted, “and the Irish.”

“ _Okay, Boomer_ ,” Kol gruffly returned, not the least bit shamed by her aghast expression. Katherine nearly sputtered, leaning into his frame to muffle her laughter. Her shoulders shook, defeating her purpose.

“Excuse me??” Ava squawked.

“And subtle prejudices than border on racist,” the blonde chortled.

“I’m part of the Silent Generation. Boomers started _after_ the war. I was born in the middle of it! Get your dates straight.”

“That was your job to teach me that,” Kol remarked back like the smug smartass he was. Katherine swatted his shoulder but it barely made a bent.

“No, I taught you how to connect with the elements. School should have engrained basic history into your thick skull!"

Caroline couldn’t help but feel the tender warmth of delight as she relished in her family unit. Kol, the coddled baby despite surpassing them all in height, taking the utter piss out of his tutor. Katherine in the middle eased into a sense of contentment as she basked in her boy making most of their shared time with no complaints. Ava, the seasoned northerner who carved out a soft spot for the trio in the two decades she’d grown with them.

“Make that two,” Ava growled. “He’s testing me. I thought this was just a phase when you were a rowdy teen.”

“Oh, never,” Kol jested.

_All four them – defying what was expected of them._

“The reclaiming our second chances,” Caroline murmured amongst the ruckus. Even armed with her Fae hearing, Ava was too enwrapped with her bickering to take noticed. Katherine and Kol were laughing at her expense, assuring her it was all in lighthearted fun and offering her another shot to soothe her nerves.

“And making the most of what we want,” Caroline persisted. She swirled her nearly empty glass. “On our own terms,” she amended, finding herself grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caroline definitely is the Head Blonde In Charge and I couldn't be anymore proud of her. 
> 
> To be real, the fact there is so much to reveal to Klaus who knows absolutely nothing is going to make this fun.  
> She's.... immortal??? What...? She has Fae friends....? What...? Hello, secret life! AKA your world just got bigger.  
> (And they are on opposing teams given how the Fae are their own exclusive brand and want nothing to do with witches - it's like Cats vs Dogs) 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Have lots of ideas to muddle with!
> 
> 1) THE O'CONNOR LAYOUT AGREEMENT WAS A LEGIT THING. I thought it was cool to insert some little kid bit of my state's history (and hometown). Except I tweaked it because uh, it applied to criminals like the Barker Gang and Dillinger (who lived in my apartment!!!) rather than, you know, creatures of the night. Well, yes, some creatures of the night (haha, pun point for meeee) but not THOSE kind of creatures with fangs.


	8. Oslo / New Orleans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Faces, Old Faces - Blasts from the Past and not for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay... soo... lots went down this week with the whole Trump/MAGA coup... (still trying to wrap my mind around that...) Thus the delay because uh, hella distractions. 
> 
> anyways, this is partially a filler chapter with fluff, some happy backgrounds, and then setting up for a major encounter on both sides. 
> 
> It's split in perspectives: Caroline's and Solveig's/Elijahs. 
> 
> It's gonna get spicy.

Caroline was determined not let this years’ Christmas be spoiled by a few hiccups.

With time to bide – given the weekend had yet to fully pass and Caroline’s cryptic note would spur Klaus on a manhunt – Caroline felt confident perusing the town, Katherine and Kol towed behind her. He had met up with his roommate – Rohm – who cast undeniable heart eyes of Kol’s ‘ _pretty big sister’_ – much to the warlock’s grievance. One of these days, Caroline was certain, Rohm would meet his maker and she was starting to believe Kol was first runner up to deliver the comeuppance.

Honestly, Katherine could hold her own. Caroline had witnessed firsthand the brunette’s savviness. Given she was no longer equipped with a vampiric advantage, she couldn’t rely on brute strength like Caroline did, or lean on compulsion to rid herself of nuisances, but she was witty and tenacious with her words. She’d fit well within the realms of the sarcastic, straight-forward East Coast.

Boston, New York, Philadelphia… Caroline dreamt of meandering towards the revolutionary cities she failed to venture to despite residing in the midst of Virginia. It was a lost opportunity. She could daydream now. Katherine as in the center of it all – some fast talking, take-no-shit, unapologetic woman charging the mean streets of a city oasis.

That’s where Katherine belonged. Anonymity in a city of millions. Like-minded souls who just want to get on with their day and settle in the comforts of home with exception of big holidays where big budgets meant bigger celebrations. Instead of Rome, Caroline could envision Katherine gawking at the giant tree in Rockefeller Center; watching the Ball Drop at Times Square; Watching the Rockettes at Radio City Hall…

“You’re daydreaming again,” a Kol wisped in her ear.

She should have keener sense. Her hearing was sharp enough to detect cracks in ice under mild weight – so she was surprised she didn’t anticipate Kol coming behind her. He was large enough her peripheral ought to have spied him a width a way. She squeaked and, much to her embarrassment, jumped and then clutched her chest over her wild heart, attempting to ease it back into a normal tempo.

“How do you do that?” she hissed, glaring at his figure as he rounded to her side. “Stop that!” She added for extra measure, baring teeth.

All bravado – she would never fulfill such a threat. Even if he towered over her, he was still just a child in her eyes – especially when he _acted like one_ , far be it from the quarter-century year-old adult he ought to have aspired to be.

“Ava’s bite is worse,” Kol taunted with an easy grin. True – Ava did have some exemplary canines that she couldn’t help; genetics cursed her with the sharp anatomical anomalies. That explained her hesitance to smile for any group photo – always sporting the tight lipped one which many deemed forced and inauthentic. Nope – just insecure.

Unlike Caroline who prided her pearly whites. She reigned in her protruding canines and showcased her magazine winning smile.

“Kol, I will _end_ you,” she warned behind a dainty veneer. 

“I wish you would,” Kol played along, wagging his brows.

“Thanks for leaving me with him,” Katherine hissed not too far behind. A slap occurred sometime between then and when she appeared between them. Given the flinch Kol exhibited and the way he consoled his arm delicately, Caroline surmised his mother had hit her mark. Granted, he has three layers between the outlying fabric and his flesh, but Katherine didn’t hold back.

After all, ever since Ava introduced Kol to Hockey since he was a boy (as part of a “ _well rounded curriculum_ ”), Katherine fully embraced her identity as a Hockey Mom. Those layer-padded, spiked coffee bench parents put Soccer Moms to shame. 12 years in the ice rink amongst parents with more ambition than their puck-happy children would drive any woman berserk. Lugging around a fortune worth of equipment in sub-zero temperatures also thickened her skin – and significant thinned her patience.

“Yeah, Kol, why would you abandon your mother to deal with your sleazy roommate?” Caroline chastised, striking him in the same tender spot. He yipped and cupped his aching arm defensively, curling his body away from their strike zone.

“You two are abusive,” he accused gruffly.

Caroline couldn’t help but ponder amusingly after the times Katherine was confronted by various men during those few hours at the rink. Caroline would keep her company if she could but if she was tied up with work, Katherine was on her own. Some friends were made but not long-lasting bonds, not the kind Katherine could afford to make while her guard was up. However, the obvious body language and curt conversations did not thwart a few bold men.

Caroline particularly remembered a beguiled assistant coach who, in her opinion, could easily pass as attractive. Would Kol approve of Katherine dating his instructor? Probably not. He already detested drills. No need to bring them home for dinner.

Or the recently divorced father of two – one of which, his eldest, played with Kol – and the youngest had purposely preoccupied Katherine with mindless chatter. To be honest, Katherine appreciated the boys’ company over their father’s. She had a soft spot for kids and always wanted one for her own. Kol was just the only one she had the luxury to raise. None would come after him.

Their father didn’t get the memo, daring to hit on Katherine in plain view of the women, many (if not all) were quite fond of his ex. That didn’t win Katherine any popularity points either. His ex was also there, by the glass pane, plainly eyeing the awkward duo rather than the kids out on the ice. (That was another element of uncomfortable). Needless to say, she wasn’t invited to many parties, and Caroline was the one to commute Kol around from one door to another during Meet seasons.

Caroline didn’t miss those days either. Too much driving and way too much helicopter parents. The only bonus was seeing juniors brawling on the ice with little to no interference from the refs. As Ava implied – it was a self-policing sport and built more character since the players dictated their own conduct.

Was it wrong Caroline was proud Kol, then a rookie, could hold his own? Ava did describe him as a lanky guy – not the kind to be rustling with a six-something-towering two-hundred-plus enforcer – but Kol was fast, agile, and easy Star Player quality, if it wasn’t for the close-call concussion that had Claudia breathing down all their necks.

_It’s fine. It’s part of the sport. They skate it off._ Ava dismissed entirely. Hockey was a sport that came with an abundance of risks. Kol didn’t seem to mind. He was a speed-freak and had a good handle on the stick, able to soar pucks into the net. If he fell, he had twenty and some pounds of padding and helmet that should have been plated with gold for the price it fetched to cover his body.

_This is done,_ the livid sprite ordered.

She was jolted back into reality, finding a manicured hand coiled around her wrist. Katherine was tugging them ahead to the strip of window shops. Warm lights strung in arches above them, intermingling with spruce green garlands, and shimmering bells and bulbs.

Caroline wished she had her Canon. This would be the perfect banner for her latest article. The scene was romantic and the very essence of Hallmark she strived to replicate in her own home.

_Oh!_ She thought in a moment of panic. _The Christmas tree!_

“She’s the vampire, not me, and if it was broken, you’d be hollering,” Katherine harrumphed. “Honestly, why are you even friends with him?”

“We were but then he amped up his douchebaggery,” Kol grumbled sourly. “I was getting Caroline to save you so I wouldn’t make a mess of things. I’m the one that has to live with him for the next four months until the lease it up.”

“We need a photo!” Caroline declared in peak inspiration. She stepped ahead in a hurry, catching the mother-and-son off guard. “That’s the perfect backdrop!” Behind them, sparkles of decoration lined with vibrant green and ribbons of red lined the arches and shop fronts around them.

Katherine was dressed more for style as Oslo evened around mid-twenties, a vast improvement since last snowfall had plummeted temperatures to the teens’. She decided for a classic checkered wool, wrap coat that fell just over her knees. Black, leather gloves kept her fingers safe from the chill. The same black leather that adorned her feet, coming up to her knees which she secured with a buckle strap to ward out the snow. Faux fur earmuffs of the darkest variety soothed her ears from frost bite. The wind did not dare tussle her free-flowing locks, some of which were snug under her black infinity scarf.

In stark contrast, Kol dressed for leisure. His khakis wouldn’t repel the cold but his black-and-green puffy parka would sufficiently cover his upper half. His crudely combed brown hair peaked from the hems of his black knit hat. Weather brown laced ankle boots he sported reminded Caroline of another Christmas gift she should wrap.

Upon instruction, Kol coiled his lanky arm around Katherine’s shoulder and roused her for a shoulder-to-shoulder hug. He was so tall her cheeks pressed against his chest while his chin rested on the crown of her head. Her arms enveloped his torso and his free hand rose to mock a wave – or whatever pose he was trying to execute.

“Aww, aren’t you precious?” She cooed.

“Please take the photo,” Kol groaned as his pained. His smile didn’t allude to his misery, much to Caroline’s glee. Both were bright eyes and displaying pearly whites. Rosy cheeks really sealed the authenticity of the seasonal photo.

“This one is for next years’ card,” Caroline squealed, snapping extras for safe measure. “Perfect! Thank you!”

“Alright, one of you two,” Katherine introduce, released from Kol’s arm and she scurried to take over Caroline’s place.

“Or I can take one of you three,” a dark haired stranger intercepted, speaking the same English tongue. He came from her right, startling the duo. Caroline fixed her brows in suspicion, not anticipating him to interject. Her instincts were dulling. She needed to be more vigilant.

“Thanks,” she said softly, shaking off her surprise.

Katherine paused, delayed in her processing. She reluctantly obliged. The camera app was already open, instructions need not apply. Caroline pushed her ahead, acting as a shield upon instinct.

Caroline was on the far right, Kol on the far left, and Katherine wedged in the middle.

If Katherine was style, Kol was comfort, Caroline was all festive with her pink pom-pom hat, matching mittens, and white winter bomber jacket with faux fur trim. Dark jeans brought out the pop of bright, red fur lined boots laced up mid-calve. 

“Alright – one formal – and then the next is fun, _nothing inappropriate_!” She commanded, eyeing Kol as she emphasized the last portion. He shrugged innocently. “ _Kol!_ ”

“Fine,” he sighed. He framed a big smile and tilted Katherine’s head to lean on his shoulder. His ungloved hand then rest on Caroline’s closest shoulder.

Caroline’s mitt curled around Katherine’s middle and she fashioned her authentic grin. Katherine’s fashioned hers in likeness.

“Ready!” Caroline sang.

“One…Two…Three…Great! Next,” the stranger declared, snapping a few extras.

Katherine shrieked as Kol heaved Katherine off her feet, curling an arm around her middle. Caroline laughed along as the human clung to his neck with anxious hands, nervous about his balance. As her feet dangled, Caroline pitched in her part and wrapped her arms around both, pressing her face against Katherine’s warm, wool coat, and fisting the bunches of Kol’s jacket to secure her grip.

Katherine’s head towered over them both, Kol being second, and Caroline docked as the shortest of the trio in such formation. When she felt safe, she released one arm to coil it around Caroline’s neck, too.

“I feel sandwiched!” Katherine shrilled.

“You’re warm and toasty!” Caroline chuckled.

“You’re choking me!” Kol feigned a cough. He grinned, seeing Caroline approve.

“A warning would be nice!” Katherine chided, fixing a smile.

“Ready!” Caroline cued.

_Click! Click!_

“That’s great,” the stranger bid with a wave. He handed the blonde the phone.

“Thanks a lot,” Caroline rejoiced, admiring the photos. “These are awesome! I appreciate the help!”

“Anytime gorgeous,” he winked.

BREAK

Ava’s favorite TV show was The Twilight Zone.

Just because they didn’t talk often, or share feelings, didn’t mean Solveig observe her sister. Ever since the bastard was born, Solveig was strangely curious about her father’s abnormal creation.

Ava was a rare phenomenon in their reserved realm. The union between immortal and mortal – such things were not meant to interlap. Yet, somehow, the oddity that was a Halfling captured the imagination from either side.

Solveig had watched originally with ridicule, observing the struggling mother manage the colicky infant who seemed to never grow. She was at her wits ends, even contemplating the old Irish tale to throw the supposed changeling into the fire – but reason and forced affection overtook the impressionable young woman and so Ava remained uncharred.

Insanity or depression would overcome her – the question remained of which would strike first. Most mortal woman were too weak to handle the challenges that came with raising a child that belonged to neither world.

Their father had abandoned the woman long before either realized Ava would be conceived from their short-lived tryst. Upon receiving confirmation that the pretty girl was expecting, their father washed his hands completely of the affair and the abomination it produced.

A Halfling was a mark of shame. Mingling with mortals was one thing, a social taboo, but Solveig knew it happened often – a weakness of their kind. A Halfling was a cautionary tale to keep within their own ranks – or else a physical stain would spoil their revered family tree, tarnishing the proper pedigree of their established hierarchy.

Solveig was both interested and irate with the sudden and unwelcomed addition to their family tree. She took it upon herself to watch the girl grow up. Solveig even felt compelled at a few times to intervened when Rosie proved herself to be negligent. Parents’ of halflings tended to resort to such mechanisms to cope with the stress.

It wasn’t affection or infatuation that peaked Solveig’s inquisition – it was the fact Ava detested the humans in Ava’s company almost as much as Ava herself. The men Rosie invited were of low caliber and unrestrained temper. Ava had been the common recipient of the latter.

The only salvation in the girl’s life were her grandparents’ patience and guidance. Their fondness of hunting aside, Solveig could approve of the mortals who took in the girl after too many conflicts resulting in excessive battering. They had disapproved of Rosie’s negligence and spoiled the child, countering Rosie’s blatant rejection.

One of Ava’s favorite pastimes came from the television. The Twilight Zone was a family favorite. Solveig had spied the beguiled girl many of times, absolutely enamored with the evening special and finding comfort with her aging companion, a man who found solace in the mindless musings of thirty-minute specials, littered with consumer rot in between takes. 

Mortals – so easily entertained.

Vampires were just mortals forever suspended in time. Their gluttony intensified and personal ego elevated beyond reach. Another fault of the witches’ who brought them into existence.

There was one episode of _The Twilight Zone_ Solveig strangely recalled. She couldn’t remember the title but the synopsis was clear: a doll that spoke vile things to a vile stepfather, and deservingly so. The girl who coddled the doll looked so much like Ava in her youth, down to the bangs and dimples. However, the doll itself was murderous in intent, driven by the need to protect the child which doted on it.

She perused the old shop tucked away in the shadows, discovering a similar doll perched high on the shelf. Both went unnoticed by patrons who wandered mindlessly amongst the clutter of so-called collectables. Solveig prided antiquity but a twentieth century doll was not something she’d treasure herself.

However, as she eyed this strange porcelain creation, she wasn’t ignorant of the presence discreetly biding his time. He looked like someone of official importance. No doubt, Solveig deduced, a man of business, but donning a suit in the midst of intense heat New Orleans was ostentatious. 

She had come across him numerous times. He had never once interacted with her, per her will. She’d rather not level to engaging with such lowly sorts. Unfortunately, Solveig needed to make a point, and so she had to find a medium to assert herself without triggering obvious suspicion.

“I had an order on reserve,” he spoke plainly to the clerk. “It’ll be under the name Mikaelson.”

He sounded exhausted by the sheer need to elaborate his name – as if it were an insult that he had to remind the elderly man. Ava was right – Elijah was pretentious.

“Ah, I had that confirmed by a friend of yours, Ms. Devereaux,” the clerk nodded along.

Solveig didn’t miss the narrowing of his eyes upon the mention of ‘ _friend_ ’. He did not appreciate the assumed informality or even friendliness between the two supernatural anomalies. Solveig exhibited the same prejudice, a fact she did not deny, but she found it conceited the likes of him would look down upon the very ranks which made his kind possible.

At least Kol had some reverence for the leagues of witches, showing respect without prompt. That is what made him the perfect candidate for Solveig to be a mediator of sorts. Elijah, to her knowledge, never exhibited that same connection to magic, and propped himself onto his own pedestal overlooking the rest. His arrogance would be his undoing – too much like his abomination of his hybrid brother.

Caroline’s charm, desire to lead, and intuition would mold Kol into the warlock Solveig needed him to be. Caroline was a better suited Original than the haughty man before her. Mainly for her sociable and agreeable disposition.

“The book, please,” Elijah curtly ordered, adjusting his cufflinks.

Solveig wondered why the mere mention of Ava would humble such a man. Surely his arrogance would blind him; drive him to assert his own authority over a woman he perceived to be less than. She was neither immortal nor advantageous in strength (no Fae exhibited such), yet he rescinded so quickly at the mention of her supposed attendance.

If he could suppress a witch without worry of consequence, what did Ava hold over him to trigger such a cowardly response?

A mere gunshot wound wouldn’t prompt such an illicit response. Solveig was certain he encountered more opposition in his vast existence.

She did not hesitate to venture into his thoughts. The Fae were privileged to be able to surpass most barriers – except those bonded by iron, a natural loophole she’d forever scorn – and Elijah’s mental secrecy was just an illusion for the likes of herself.

_The book was of great importance. Spells acquired centuries ago – imported from Ireland – relating to tales of Druids. Voodoo has proven null and void. He’s reverting back to older magic which he is somewhat familiar with._

Ah – the druids. The original warlocks who had some semblance of respect for natural order and hierarchy. Their fondness for sacrifice was barbaric but necessary – most of which were condemned criminals, so not a total loss to society, Solveig mused.

_Resurrection._

He was still keen on reviving her newly appointed Original. She wondered if Caroline’s secrecy was a testament to her own efforts or discrediting the intelligence the elder Original believed himself to epitomize. Either way, he was at a severe disadvantage.

And loyal to a brother who deprived him of essential knowledge. She knew full well Caroline spared the nosy witch – honestly, a decision she could not make sense of. What’s a loss of a witch in the greater scheme of things?

And to add salt to the wound, Caroline exposed her status as alive to the very person Solveig detested – someone she wanted to be kept very far, far away. Of course, Caroline would invite him to a chase. It was his instinct, was it not? She gave him crumbs and he’d follow like the lustful bloodhound he proved himself to be time and time ago. A man driven by power and control – patience would not prevail – and hopeful Caroline was too naïve to believe he’d exhibit restraint for her own case.

Solveig could only hope Caroline’s loyalty to Kol would overwhelm whatever affection she held for the hybrid. Thousand years of resentment she adopted on the warlock’s behalf would propel her to feel a certain way – a fact Solveig knew would come to fruition should the hybrid dare attempt to pull her away.

There was a white oak hidden in secrecy for such an occasion. Solveig was rather inconvenienced she’d have to reap it earlier than expected.

She needed her Original. Not just to safeguard Kol but should Kol desert her, she could count on the others to take his position. She wasn’t someone who put their eggs in one basket – Henrik was young and impressionable. Last she checked, he was only thirteen, and in the care of ignorant (albeit, extremely grateful) parents who were grateful the _Aos Si_ blessed them with a son after two miscarriages. A spoiled, beloved boy with potential – less than Kol who grew up learning magic simultaneously with practical studies – but well within capabilities of practicing beyond the limitations imposed upon modern witches.

Finn was a reluctant spirit but the promise of being tied to his love, Sage, secured his voluntary reincarnation as well. Somewhere in Germany, the two adolescences reunited and just officiated their marriage. A child would soon follow. Finn was knowledgeable and an active practitioner, enabled by apathetic Kobolds who cared less for the ancient feud, but their willingness to shelter the couple was appreciated by the Fae community as a whole. Their children – an anticipated daughter and son – began whispers of larger accomplishments.

Should all else fail, she could make use of the newly revived bloodline to her advantage – she just needed to employ some diplomacy to integrate with the Kobolds. They were far more agreeable than the conniving _Aos Si_ who (rightfully) distrusted outsiders.

Solveig wondered if she could benefit from the roots of distrust amongst kin, both living and dead. Sowing the seeds of chaos and inner turmoil was a specialty crafted amongst the meddlesome Fae.

Civil Wars were waged on sacred ground solely for the offense ignorant mortals would dare to build their fortifications on land claimed by the Fae. Global scale wars were influenced by the very ranks who desired to make most of such conflicts, foreseeing great gains – much loss of life of mortals was just another perk. Cities levelled, nature reclaimed, and bounties of sacrifice to fuel the deserted Fae who were once revered by the ancient peoples.

Respect was long overdue.

The clerk made haste and brought out the coveted piece of merchandise. Solveig had witnessed Kol handled antiques such as this with the same clothed gloves and protective coverings. Natural oils were one of many enemies of fragile parchment and aging ink.

The book was old. Carved symbols in hide-wrapped bindings implied Celtic origins. The weight of it surpassed hundreds of thick pages, written in a language dominated by code. Letters were not of much use to the people who settled in the Highlands, the place with Solveig was certain such a book hailed from.

It would do Kol much service, she cemented in her mind. She would not burn such a gift, especially after Elijah went through such troubles to procure it. The delight she’d feel – and share with her troublesome sister – at hocking such a fine piece from the vampire would equally justify the venture as worthwhile.

The clan which regarded it highly had been untimely extinguished – and Solveig had her suspicions Klaus had executed the enterprise with personal interest. His influence would have prompted nearby clans to feud, and well, Solveig could appreciate a man of strategy who knew how to act and exert little labor of his own in the process. She could grant the hybrid that much.

After a thorough examination, Elijah deemed it authentic. Packing the book in its original shipment to prevent marks, and hide its true identity from prying eyes, he then dipped into his back pocket for a wallet.

“Here is the agreed price,” Elijah traded. Stacks of bills replaced the book on the glass counter. The middle-man fee – and a generous one at that, securing the element of secrecy. At least Elijah was above needless bloodshed – something Solveig could foresee Caroline appreciating. “Your business is valued,” he followed up. The subtext behind his wording was clear: keep this private and I’ll turn to you for more exchanges.

Solveig needed to act behind he left the scene.

The doll was the perfect medium to employ her scheme.

“ _Elijah_ ,” she sang softly. The porcelain lips fell ajar and the glossy blue eyes shone an alarming, glowing green – Solveig’s own physical effects manifesting, down to the tinting the dark auburn hair a shimmering auburn under the shop’s dated illumination.

His head spun to the source of the sound.

“You hear that?” he implored the ignorant clerk accusingly.

“Hear what?”

Elijah deduced the man was blind to the magic at play; sparing him the Original’s boiling wrath as he charged to the back with a vengeance.

“ _Elijah,_ ” she repeated in the same fashion. His senses were keen and he fixated on the corner the doll situated, scanning through the various apparatus – starting downwards to the vintage musical monkeys up to the discolored teddy bears. Finally, his eyes centered on the row of antique dolls – some glass, some porcelain, others plastic – but all of which dressed in late nineteenth to early twentieth century garb. Hair curled in ribbons and ringlets. Some featured bonnets. Others straw hats.

Perfect childlike, faux-human mediums. Something about their superficial, exaggerated features carried an ominous aura. Many folks had nightmares of their sudden animations – sources of horror that perpetrated to larger cinematic screens, not just the tiny grey scale box that had bemused Ava’s younger self in the fifties and sixties.

_Mortals – so easily startled_.

“ _Peak-a-boo, I found you_ ,” Solveig giggled through the chattering lips of the suspended doll.

“I believe I found you first,” Elijah retaliated hotly. His eyes were miffed, unsure of what magic was at play.

“ _No, silly, I found you! I always do! You never find me unless I want you to_ ,” she continued her giddy persona.

That startled him immensely, prompting him to shudder back a step.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

Some may call it straight forward but such string was words were all too predictable for Solveig’s liking. She allowed Elijah to stand impatiently, stirring his temper as she bided her time to compose the right, cryptic response. She had to keep him on his toes.

“ _I like games,”_ she chattered. _“Like the one where you guess my name!”_

He’d never guess it. Only few knew it. A name meant power. Power to conjure and hold leverage. Solveig couldn’t dare bring about such risk to her own person. Her sister already defiantly shared it with Katherine and Caroline who had enough sense not to repeat it.

“This isn’t time to play Rumpelstiltskin,” Elijah growled. “I don’t have the time nor patience.”

“ _I got all the time in the world!”_ she toyed along. _“You have none to save the girl!”_

He jolted and his eyes widened, startled by her intruding proclamation.

“How do you know about that?” He demanded, keeping the book safely and securing at his side. She noted both hands were on either side. She slithered to the shadows, mending in with his own. Yet, she continued to puppeteer the doll, knowing he was fixated. She noted the chill in his spine – an effect of the Fae native to the northern regions. They protruded a change in the atmosphere around them, stealing heat and in the void, an unsettling cold consumed the unfortunate inhabitants.

“ _Silly Elijah – I see everything!”_ she chided. Her eyes glowed green and fixed hands wobbled from their joints, clapping delicate fingers in three slow, consecutive claps.

“What do you know that I don’t?” he accused in a fury.

“ _Ashes, ashes, and they all fall down,”_ Solveig repeated the morbid nursery rhyme. The Great Plague was a besiegement on mankind. Bodies on the brink of death buried with those already succumbed to their pitiful, gross wounds. Burned to keep the disease at bay. The smell was foul and the scene was horrific. 

She sang the tune for a different reason, reminiscing on the siege sovereigns employed on political dissenters they condemned as witches. Magistrates summoning suspected persons and leaving them to rot in prisons. Women and men in the new world tried and tested in impossible conditions until death was the only escape from the torture.

_Trial by fire_ – the only trial the Fae would happily overcome given their natural advantage. Mortal flesh would never sustain such heat without breaking.

She needed Elijah to continue his resolve against the witches. Let him resume the role Klaus employed while the hybrid was baited by her conniving insubordinates to chase around a pair of rogue vampires.

A civil war to exterminate the pre-existing pests to levy the foundations for a new beginning. Let the witches be culled to humble beginnings, reigned by the few in possession of older magic obtained solely by their closeness to such heritage; let the vampires suffer the wrath of their makers – hunted and exterminated like the vermin they were.

The werewolves were a strange union of mortal and nature – crafted by the likes of the Greeks. Solveig had no plight with them. They predated the vampires and were allowed their domain. Let them join the hunt, weaponize their bite, and reclaim their sovereign as nature’s dominant hunter.

Tiny toy piano keys played to the old Scottish tune. The sound adjacent to his left riled him, eyeing the moving, colorful keys with heavy distrust and some recognition of the melody.

_You’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road,_

_And I’ll be in Scotland afore you._

_Where me and my true love will never meet again,_

_On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond._

Gears were turning in his head as he tried to make something of the clue.

“It’s hopeless to bring her back…?” Elijah whispered but not in defeat. He looked up defiantly. “There has to be something. I don’t believe it.”

He was determined. She’d give him that. Or too blind with denial.

Blind enough she swiftly plucked the book from his relaxed grip, shrouding it within her own mirage. He scrambled to discover its whereabouts, furious at its unexpected disappearance. 

“You made a grave mistake!” He seethed, aimlessly spinning to get a glimpse of the thief.

“ _That book is of no use to you_ ,” she feigned in a whimsical voice. “ _Don’t take things that you don’t need_.”

She lingered just enough to see another step into view, almost struck by the vampire’s frantic, rapid form burning a hole into the shag carpet.

Solveig opted to wisp away into the obstruction of the shelf, and then into another shadowed corner, where another portal awaited her for easy escape. The book was snug across her chest, secured by both arms.

“What’s the matter?” The panicked clerk intervened.

“There is a girl I need to go see!” Elijah growled, pushing him aside.

There it was again – he didn’t suspect a thing, not a single keen sense aware of the threat lying in wait, and right under his nose he was made a fool. He hadn’t felt that way since the blizzard up north in the uncharted wilderness of Minnesota. Not a single sound except for the blood rushing to his ears as the wind howled a terrible noise. Then the deafening crack of undeniable gun.

The excruciating, burning pain that consumed him was something else entirely. It pushed away the bitterness of the cold or the dampness of the snow which cushion his fall. All he could fixate on was the fiery pain of metal cutting his skin and burying itself into the wounds. Healing was useless considering he’d have to pick them out – losing track of all the shrapnel he’d have to pluck without indulging his brother the source of his pain.

He never heard the crunch of feet plunging through the fresh blanket of snow. He never smelled a second presence. It was like a ghost – wisping through the snowflakes and masking themselves through the trees, silenced by the wind.

And those glowing green eyes boring into him. It was merely a glance last time – peering out through the blinding white curtain barreling down on him to catch a pair of beading orbs hovering above the ground, not too high to belong to full grown adult – but the doll was too reminiscent of those eerie green eyes glaring from a distance.

Those same eyes that dulled to a flat green the quiet Tuesday morning he returned to pay his respects. The black attire brought them out, mesmerizing him for a second, but not a second too late before he caught the glisten of metal escape the confines of her personal bag and fire a shot into the beam near his face. The wood splintered, striking his face, and he knew the historic German architecture would not recover from the blow. A better alternative than his face.

He suspected that it wasn’t a warning shot. Had her finger not quivered from such impulsive rage, she’d make her mark, and he was certain the ghost in the woods that left him for dead was the same wraith of a woman sitting in the front pews mourning the woman he himself was fond of.

Rosie Meier was just a short romance but she left a mark. A beauty known for her gentility and deep blue eyes. Elijah was momentarily enamored until he realized the pairing was ill-fit. She had a husband, irrelevant if they were estranged, and more importantly, a child dependent on her. Rosie’s heartbreak left a mark on her daughter who, in turned, was determined to leave a mark on him for retribution. She was lying in wait, seeking the opportunity to finish the job.

Had it not been for her differing hair or eyes, Elijah was certain Rosie’s image was haunting him. The same shape, the same face – the appearance matched the portrait hung by the casket – but if Rosie was a tame dove with her fair features, Ava was more a prowling hawk – ready to strike with russet feathers hovering above. 

And considering his close call with Ava only days ago, spurning him to rethink his proximity considering she wasn’t much of a talker where he was concerned, he knew the two instances were connected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Kol definitely had a decent childhood just as most hoped he would. I'm slowly building up his past references to bide time for his big moment in the future. 
> 
> 2) "Gorgeous" ring a bell anyone...? Because it's gonna next chapter. Hmm. Dark haired with an accent... (realized post editing I forgot to mention he had an accent - ughhh). Small world people. Stefan got loose lips that sink ships. 
> 
> 3) Told you Solveig is up to no good and she low-key threw Ava under the bus because that's exactly where Elijah is going. THAT SPRITE CAN'T BE TRUSTED; SHE GOT HER OWN AGENDA. (Poor Ava has to deal with him as the team scapegoat)
> 
> 4) Holy heck - Finn and Henrik, too?? Man, I was going to get hyped about the bigger picture and how more Fae are involved in a magical coup (and being super secret about it) but given the last weeks events, uh, the whole idea of a coup is really fresh and not in a good way. 
> 
> 5) So yeah, if I didn't do a shotty job, hopefully you'd figure Elijah is now doing Klaus's role as city enforcer because SOMEONE is MIA chasing rogue vampires - cough cough - note successfully passed along. We're keep er' moving. Timeline is speeding up! 
> 
> BUT also, damnit Solveig, always has to throw a wrench in someone's happy ever after. Let's hope no one reaches that tree anytime soon.


	9. Oslo, p3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New friends meet and family reunions are on the horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... writer's block pushed me to throw a grenade in my slow, moving plot because I just can't justify constant fillers. Excitement needs to happen so I'm really vamping (pun intended) to get some new (er, old) faces on print. 
> 
> We need some interactions and I have just the two in mind! You'll figure out who!

Caroline didn’t need protection. That’s why she was allowed to wander by herself. She promised she’d be back in twenty after they grabbed their hot beverage order from the quaint little coffee shop that lulled them inside with sweet aromas and festive décor. It was a photoshoot begging to be immortalized in Caroline’s camera roll, something Katherine and Kol were accustomed to.

They all had their own little hobbies. If the women could put up with his hockey obsession, he didn’t mind entertaining Caroline’s holiday spirit as she posed by the lanterns lit besides starry silhouettes.

They departed on their own missions, promising to regroup at the same coffee shop. There was no doubt the planner extraordinaire had already purchased her intended gifts and was just picking them up, pre-wrapped. That was her thing – irrelevant if she moved to a public address able to receive shipped packages. She just liked the idea of collecting professionally wrapped boxes and taunting Kol with the suspense of carrying his own gifts. That was his theory.

Caroline could be cruel, even if her intent was wholesome.

Truthfully, she was the strongest of the three. She could carry all of them and run them home in a blink of an eye. She didn’t. Kol knew why. She refused to flaunt herself as their superior, or anyone’s. She was too human in every sense except physical, clinging to her roots like a lifeline. She didn’t want to lose herself or get carried away with the perks of vampirism. She needed to reign herself in. Kol had rarely seen her employ the true extent of her abilities.

Kol often wondered about his past life. He had been like Caroline, unstoppable until he was. Those vivid dreams of searing pain and suffocating smoke haunted him as a child. He recalled the bloodshed and torn hearts thumping their last beat in his bare hands. Deafening screams and incessant pleas for mercy met with cruel apathy.

He was capable of that, at one point in time. It didn’t settle right in his stomach to think he could take a life without consequence. He couldn’t envision Caroline doing the same. She did her best to de-escalate any situation, preferring to compel and avoid. Blood shouldn’t stain her hands; it wasn’t natural for her.

Of all people to be granted the title of the deadliest killer Caroline seemed like the last candidate, but perhaps it was for the better – someone who defied their inherit nature to stick to their own morals. The exact kind of discipline Kol needed for a mentor. The perfect person willing to abide by the rules levied upon her by higher powers, aligning their own interests with her stern self-imposed values.

Any less person would be corrupted with power he had acquired in the hundreds of years he reigned havoc with his kin on the earth. Years he couldn’t even recall in full depth. That was a blessing, considering the few glimpses he had stirred panic within him.

That kind of power had poisoned him, so much so he was willing to relinquish it all together. Ironic how so many would covet immortality with unparalleled advantages but people like he and Caroline denied it with every fiber of their being. More so Caroline, who refused to humor the benefits of vampirism. She detested it. Now more than ever since she suffered the loss of Liz.

Liz would be the first of many. 

Due to Fae intervention, Kol would likely age simultaneously with his mother – appearing more like siblings. He was grateful for the time. He had seen the anguish it caused Caroline to watch her mother wither and fade. Realistically, she was only fifty or so when Liz passed away. A little earlier than most, given the advancement of medicine, but still… having to watch someone who raised you, someone you loved the most, to suddenly vanish from your life without any consolation was an agony Kol feared.

Kol still felt the sting of Liz’s loss every day. She was the loving, soothing woman who fully embodied a grandmother for him. To see her slowly shrivel into a shallow shell as cancer consumed her entire being was horrific. He couldn’t imagine how painful it was for Caroline to see her mother perish in such a state.

One glance at his mom and something sour churned in his stomach. Her circumstances were unknown. The cure had plenty of uncertain consequences. Her mortality was limited but the final day in question hovered like a guillotine. She accepted her fate but like everyone else, the suspense of when she’d finally succumb to her human weakness added a suffocating layer of anxiety. It haunted them both. Neither could fully anticipate or prepare for that dreadful moment, or moments, considering most ends weren’t quick. What’s to say Katherine wouldn’t shrivel, too, until she was skin and bones and rasping her last breath?

She deserved to make most of her years if her final days were unknown. Tomorrow could be her last.

Kol scowled when he thought such a horrid thing. He wouldn’t invite that into existence. 

“You’re awfully quiet,” his mother prodded curiously. “Care to share?” she asked, nudging him from the side.

She never really discussed in great detail her past, before they reincarnated, but Kol had heard from Caroline Katherine was a force to be reckoned with. Her wit remained, as did her sharp instincts, but the strength and speed that kept her one step ahead had abandoned her – or rather, she abandoned it.

All for him, or maybe just seeking a do-over in general, but he couldn’t help but recall all the moments she basked in motherhood. She never held back once, always smothering him with affection and praise. She loved him unconditionally and he was content with that, and that alone.

“I’m think about what we used to be like,” he spoke honestly, “and how different things are now.”

Her face mellowed but he offered a light smile.

“Did you want kids?” he asked.

She let the question linger before she gave a response. “I did. I have a child out of wedlock but I didn’t even get to hold her,” she recalled with a heavy sadness. “My parents took her away and in retrospect, I’m sure she lived better for it. Not long after, your brothers discovered me, and well… we know how that ends…” she said with a demure sigh.

He chewed on his bottom lip, contemplating whether or not his next question was worth asking. _Did you want me or did you grow to love me?_ Why spoil a good thing? He argued against himself.

“Then I died, for good, and suddenly, we were in the same little dark corner of oblivion, and you looked at me with full confidence after Claudia made her proposition. I was a hundred percent sure I was going to do whatever it took to escape but then the idea of motherhood made it all the more worthwhile,” she beamed, patting his arm. “I don’t know why you trusted me but I’m glad you did.”

That answered his silent question and that terrible gut feeling subsided.

“Do you think my old self was vindictive enough to have a second agenda?” he pondered. “I mean… I have a theory and it’s terrible but… it makes some sense. I died angry and bitter and then I see you and Caroline on the other side, two people I knew my brothers were fond of, right?” he fumbled with his free hand. “What better way to take revenge on the people I felt betrayed by than to take you two with me? Like some twisted plot,” he chewed over with a sour expression. “It feels wrong and there’s nothing I can do about it now but I feel guilty.”

“There’s nothing to feel guilty about, Kol,” she assured, squeezing his arm. “Whatever motive you had when we made that agreement doesn’t matter now. It didn’t matter when Caroline and I woke up 3 am in the morning to soothe you back to sleep. We were committed to look after you. That was a labor of love, Kol, but one we would never take back. We loved you the day you kicked me black-and-blue,” she laughed off, recalling her sore stomach into her second trimester. He was a lively child even as a mere fetus. The sound was delightful and he found himself at ease, comforted by her happy memories. “It wasn’t forced, if that’s what your worried about.” She consoled, leaning on him. “We’re genuinely happy to have you in our lives. We love you and we want the best for you.”

It was hard to conceive that, in another life, _I Love You_ was scarcely shared. Caroline and Katherine were both so open with their feeling and unapologetically vulnerable. Caroline, the pillar of strength – both emotional and physical – didn’t once suppress her own feelings. She lived freely and fluidly, accepting her circumstances with vast optimism, and convincing Kol to adopt a similar perspective. His mother considered herself the reasonable one, the soundboard of wisdom. A little reserved when it came to risk but never once kept Kol at arm’s length. Despite her petite frame, there was no doubt she’d cast him behind her should danger make itself known.

A ridiculous concept, he pondered. He trained meticulously with Ava to master the elements and all their wonders. He could do things beyond the scopes of basic magic or spells recording his historic grimoires. Yet, the world viewed him as just a mere boy, just as they did. Forever a child, strictly to be protected and sheltered from the perils outside their humble abode.

It wasn’t until his twenties he began to assert his own independence. Living on his own cemented it but he could deny the homesickness plagued him terribly. He missed the antics of his mother managing a busy kitchen singlehandedly, finding her muse in food. One lesson from Ava making authentic Italian to serve the entire hockey team and their critical parents had inspired Katherine to pursue the hobby – something, she discovered, she was quite good at. Caroline acted more like a stereotypical dad, hunkered away in her den blissfully typing away her latest review, until commotion from the kitchen conjured her out from hiding – and horrified to find a mess in Katherine’s wake.

Katherine wasn’t as ornery about cleanliness as Caroline was – a stark contrast that humored the conditioned-to-be-tidy Kol, a consequence of Caroline’s adamant daily regiment starting from a made bed to sparkling kitchen after dinner.

He missed their evening discussions, fueled by wine or, if warranted, hot coco on the frigid nights. He’d never admit to such weakness but cuddling on the couch hit a tender nostalgic note within in – the way he could curl up with a blanket and provoke a response from Caroline when she found herself smushed was on thing; nesting with his mom as she rubbed his back caringly after a long day was a sensation he missed. It was soothing and disarming, like he could be at ease after an eternity of tension.

She had done it when he was a child after terrible nightmares, or when hockey practice took its toll on his joints. The it just stemmed into a muscle memory. It’d become something of an instinct to reach out and ensure his proximity, like he’d disappear under her nose. Who knew such a simple memory of being comforted would conjure such warm feelings? A small gesture went a long way.

In all honestly, it was just the relaxing family nightly gathering that he pined for after leaving home. Christmas was the closest holiday on the calendar to rekindle those quiet, cozy moments in good company.

Linking arms, they strolled down the opposite direction, glancing at the windows as they did. Her steps were leisurely but cautious, dreadfully slow for his taste but he didn’t rush her. She didn’t have the balance he did. She was fragile and one slip could imply serious injuries depending on the blow. He matched her pace, mindful to keep a solid posture in case her boots struck ice.

“I can’t help but think maybe I set Caroline back,” Kol mused gravely.

“She didn’t take on anything she didn’t think she couldn’t handle,” his mom assured matter-of-factly.

“I know she’s certain my brother loved her but she gets so mad at him, and I think it’s because she’s torn. She wants to protect me but she yearns for something between them. I’m forcing her to choose,” Kol huffed.

“She gets mad because she’s dealing with a lot of suppressed feelings, some of which aren’t her own,” Katherine replied earnestly. “It’s not her natural reaction but a combination of things. I’ll tell you this – and this is between us – but Caroline admitted early, early on that she blamed Klaus for bringing this on her. It was a moment of weakness and she was working things out but for a split second, she blamed him. If he just listened to you, or left the little town alone, or did as he promised to do, anything really… she was grasping at straws, but for a split second, she wanted to blame someone, and he was easy to point the finger at. He’s at the center of it all. Now, if you bring it up, she’ll deny it, and insist on moving on. Don’t think she hates him because you made her to. He made his own bed.”

Kol looked onwards, anticipating more to come from his mother as her mouth fidgeted.

“Caroline will always do the right thing. She always has. It’s been dicey between them since day one. They weren’t ever a solid _something_ but a potential of ‘ _what if_ ’ that scared them both. Back then, she had a smaller view of the world, and she denied him time and time again; now, she’s frightened that perhaps he’s the only variable that’s constant in this changing world. This isn’t about you, Kol. You’re a factor because she has to weigh the consequences; if Klaus is really capable of redemption; or if he can be trusted. However,” she tapped along, meeting his eyes, “we’ll likely be dust before she takes that risk. Caroline likes her safe, little world and her pristine control; Klaus will challenge that and I’m not sure if she’s ready to evolve into someone else, for better or worse.”

“What if she has to choose?” Kol pondered with apprehension. “What if I hold her back?”

She’d choose Kol. He knew it well. She always put family above all else. She’d dig in her heels and stick it to anyone who dare pry away the few people she had close. She could be fierce when she needed to be – Gods help anyone who provoked such a response from the amicable blonde.

It was the implication Kol could possibly be an obstruction to her happy ending. He didn’t want to hinder her. Caroline didn’t need to be chained and Kol hated to limit her. She was already burdened enough. 

“I’m sure she’ll be touched by your concern but how many times have we told you to leave the worrying to us?” Katherine pressed along, pulling him forward as his steps slagged. She boasted a smile. “Listen to me, Kol– you’re too young to fret over someone else’s decisions. Caroline is a big girl and she’s always held her own. You know that and she’d tell you the same.” She smiled upon a memory. “She always gave Klaus Hell and he let her. If anyone can hold their own against him, it’s Caroline. He’s never been able to bend her to his will and I doubt he will anytime soon.”

“Would he try?”

“I don’t know. I know he’s enamored with her and I think he’s willing to do anything to earn her favor. Like a lost puppy,” she humored, chuckling a bit at the irony of it all. “She’s that once in a lifetime someone for him and I don’t think he’ll mind waiting another thousand years for her. He can be patient when he knows what he wants and Caroline is someone he desperately want to be accepted by. Give him some wiggle room in the fact I doubt he’ll intentionally hurt her.”

“What about me? Do you think he’s going to be threatened by me?”

“I think… his conception of family is tainted by bad experiences,” Katherine awkwardly described, unsure of how to word it. “I’m not giving him an out. He has a long way to go in a matter of growth. He means well but maintaining family relations is faulty because communication is not their strong suit.” The exact opposite of their own little clan – Caroline, Katherine, and Kol were quite expressive and open. It proved to be the better route. “At the end of the day, if he demands Caroline to choose between you and him, he’ll just prove to her he’s not quite the man she’d approve of. As for you, I think he realizes what he lost, and he’ll maybe – giving the benefit of the doubt – try to reconcile but you need to be careful because he can be possessive. In a strange way, he wants to keep family together, but he forces it, and like you or Rebekah, you don’t want to be held hostage in a cold house. A home isn’t just a shelter and family isn’t just bloodline – it’s the respect that bonds everything together. If it’s not a solid foundation, it’s bound to collapse. When they finally realize what’s missing, there’s hope to rebuild but until then, it’s just a disaster waiting to happen. It’s best you keep your distance until they acknowledge their faults and make amends. I’m not saying it’s impossible – I’m just warning you to be cautious.”

“What about Rebekah?”

“Up to you. We were given stern instructions to keep you out of sight, out of mind, and nowhere near your siblings, but that was when you were just a kid, and now you’re an adult. If you are curious about your siblings, which is natural and understandable, you can make your own decisions. You’re not helpless. You were prepared to confront worse things than just your volatile siblings but just like Caroline, I think you have a familial advantage. Rebekah, I believe, was a twin…? Or just really close in age…? Your loss affected her just as badly as it did Klaus. You two were close. Siblings fight. It’s this rule where siblings can have a go at it but anyone else outside their circle can’t touch you.”

“Like the goalie or rookie, untouchable, but the team can give them hell,” Kol likened fondly.

“Yes, however you want to compare it, even if your hockey jargon is confusing,” she laughed along. “I’m sure she’d be delighted to seek some sort of reconciliation. Actually, I heard she’s a bit estranged from her brothers. She’s been in Europe and Latin America to occupy herself. I don’t know the situation entirely but I can assume she feels unheard, as she’s always complained about, and now she just wants to wipe her hands altogether from whatever mess her brothers are fixated on. I’ll give Rebekah this – she’s always had ideals to be someone outside her brothers’ grip. She just has a hard time turning her back on family. _If,_ ” she emphasized heavily, “there is a sibling I would feel comfortable with you meeting first, it’d be her. She’s more bark than she is bite; Klaus and Elijah…? Not so much.”

“I remember her, a lot more than the others,” Kol recalled to Katherine’s astonishment. “A lot of bickering but in the same way you and Caroline go at it – in good fun, you know?” He shrugged it off. He felt like he was missing pieces of himself and those snippets of memories helped soothe the ache, preferring the happier ones obviously. Annoying his sister was a favorite pastime, he gathered between the years, just as he pestered Caroline. Caroline and Rebekah were kind of similar – no wonder her latched onto the buoyant blonde.

“You know what surprises me, Kol? I mean this in the best way,” Katherine prattled on. “You don’t hold the things against people, especially your siblings, not the way I remember you did. You don’t let that fester.” Instead, that was Caroline’s burden, but Katherine didn’t remark on that. Kol didn’t need the extra layer of guilt to mull over. “Kind of like Caroline – she lets bygones be bygones and moves on. You have every right to resent your siblings for what they did but I don’t see any of that. You don’t have a grudge against them or let that weigh you down. I’m proud of you.”

“I have no reason to. I never met them or remember them fully. I only know of what you told me and, no disrespect, but everyone has their own bias. I don’t have that. I have to _see them_ with my own eyes before I can make a judgement,” Kol shrugged. “Obviously Caroline has an issue where she believes Klaus to be someone significant but then she’ll turn around and disparage his name whenever I ask, something I still can’t understand,” he mused disgruntledly. “And you tell me Elijah is someone who I can’t trust given your own experience and I respect that because you’re my mother. I take your word for it.”

“Listen to your own advice,” Katherine tapped his arm. “Don’t let anyone influence what you think. Just like Ava has her prejudices – you just take the facts and then you establish your own opinion, okay? If you ever do encounter your siblings, you’ll be able to hold your own, and maybe there will be a discussion to be had. You’re not a vulnerable child anymore. You’re a grown man with great abilities and you can certainly leverage that to your advantage. Don’t worry about us,” she repeated urgently. “Focus on what you want to do and know we’re going to back your decisions every step of the way.”

“What about Claudia?”

“Claudia has her hands full with Caroline and Ava – those two combined can give _anyone_ a migraine. Trust me, you won’t find a more stubborn pair, and they are happily giving her hell as we speak,” Katherine preached proudly. She reflected on Elijah’s own reservation after his past experience with the hardened halfling and the brief discussion she had with the blonde – coming from it the conclusion Caroline was a mighty adversary for the Original given her own headstrong prowess. Those two united could easily hold off Claudia and Kol had taken their examples, asserting his own independence, and Katherine was all too happy to encourage it.

Kol chuckled with her, amused and consoled by the fact simultaneously.

He found himself smiling. “Good,” he decided, “because I really don’t want Caroline to do this alone, and I don’t want her to be alone either.”

He paused both in speech and in step, surprising Katherine who nearly stumbled ahead.

“I also want to meet my sister, if that’s possible,” he said softly.

It was beyond just curiosity. He wanted to know for himself if the stories were true. He didn’t want to be a blind follower. He needed to see it for himself and if all was true, then at least he could console himself with the fact he sought out closure for once and for all.

“Kol, that’s a big step,” she waged with hiked brows, “but I think that was inevitable, to be honest. If you want to go ahead and open those doors, I’m not stopping you. I’m sure Caroline will help, too.” She pursed her lips before rephasing her final quip. “Heck, Rebekah might be the Original we need in this craziness. We just need to consult the right people to make that happen – and I could probably manage that.”

BREAK

Caroline knew something was up. Her intuition was heightened and coincidences were few and far between, certainly not a luxury in her circumstance.

Oslo was a big city, the biggest even. A small strip of local shops wasn’t an area that tourists frequented. The festive nook was more of a native haven for seasoned Norwegians. The architecture was older and the people older than that – establishing their own village and noting outsiders easily.

Caroline had frequented the professional culinary shop many a times during her brief visits with Kol; even more when she herself attended the same university. It wasn’t so much she was a chef – not in the slightest, though their barista accessories were something up her alley. Katherine was the culinary genius in their miniature clan – both Kol and Caroline were habitual customers to spoil the rising Michelin star.

Caroline’s own kitchen wasn’t equipped with enough storage to house Katherine’s collection of culinary essentials. With Katherine promised a lump sum as proper compensation for her surrogacy (as negotiated upon by Ava to a stubborn Solveig), Caroline chuckled thinking about how Katherine would need to have a full kitchen remodel in whatever house she’d eventually buy herself.

It was in the labyrinth of small aisles in the small shop Caroline spied a familiar face. Through the metal wiring, between hanging utensils, she caught a glimmer of dark hair. His eyes were cast upon a handcrafted knife set, scowling at the price attached.

She was suspicious off the bat. He didn’t carry a basket or look remotely interested in the merchandise. With his hands shoved in his poor winter-grade jacket pockets, Caroline suspected immediately he was a foreigner. She assumed as much when he confronted them earlier, speaking English with some sort of posh accent – England, perhaps? The way he addressed them wasn’t really the Norwegian way – most locals kept to themselves. His eager friendliness rung plenty of alarms in her head.

He dressed too lax for a cold tundra that encapsulated Norway. The fact he wasn’t shivering despite his pitiful apparel implied he wasn’t as suspectable to human weakness as she was. Eyes narrowed, she did he best to detect a heartbeat, but to her alarm, found none. It shouldn’t be unusual to find a vampire now and then but most would habituate one of the coldest places on earth, second to the north or south poles. Her guard was up officially and she was slow to approach, gauging his reaction.

“Hello again, Gorgeous,” he welcomed without turning to greet her. She maneuvered around the shelf, deliberate with each step.

“Don’t call me that,” she ordered sourly. It sounded too much like _Love_ or _Sweetheart_ , which reminded her of someone she didn’t want to think about now. 

She was parallel to him, eyeing his profile with distrust. He was too easy in his demeanor, not the least bit concerned about her or her rising temper. 

“What about Blondie?” His brow perk, hoping to illicit a reaction. All he witnessed was unimpressed pupils rolling in sarcastic form. “Or perhaps Barbie?” he pressed, grinning when he finally struck a nerve.

_The gall of him!_ Caroline grimaced. The jeer came straight out of Damon’s personal dictionary.

“How original,” she barked back.

He merely grinned and offered a casual shrug.

“Or Caroline?”

That gutted her. She turned with ire in her eyes, ready to rip out his throat in search of answers. Her hand bent the metal handle of the basket.

“Who are you?” she demanded in a low hush, nonetheless threatening.

“Friend of Bonnie’s, who I believe was a friend of yours,” he mused.

She swallowed harshly.

“Or she thought so,” he retorted dryly. “She still does but I’m starting to think otherwise,” he had the audacity to accused. “Friends don’t abandon each other yet here you are, living life without remorse.”

“You don’t know anything,” she growled, stepping closer. Her nose nearly struck his cheek and she made sure to show her veins as a clear threat.

“Bonnie is a good friend of mine and I hate to see her down because she doesn’t know if _her best friend_ is dead or not,” he returned with equal vitriol. “She heard from Damon you might be out here. I honestly don’t know what to tell her,” he hissed. “If I tell her the truth, she’ll be distraught you deserted her; if I tell her a lie, she’ll still be heartbroken because she can’t do a damn thing to help you! I don’t why she should after you proved yourself to be a lousy friend!”

“You want to talk about a lousy friend?” she poked back, prompting him to stumble backwards. Clatter of pots and pans followed by the sudden impact. She grabbed him by the jacket to dissuade prying eyes; keeping her grip tight and proximity close to prevent concern from other shoppers.

“How about I died!” She continued furiously. “Murdered by someone I considered a best friend myself and what is everyone’s first instinct? Protect her, the poor, helpless doppelganger who killed me because she has such a fragile fucking mindset that she needs to be coddled! And sheltered! And my corpse is left in the woods for hours until someone finally remembered I existed – and guess what? She still runs free while I would still be on the other side, who knows where, after the void swallowed everyone whole had it not been-” she stopped herself short before she screwed her own alibi. Jaw tense and eyes livid, she bore into him with absolute malice she did not think herself capable of.

“Then the question is,” Enzo retorted just as tersely, “how’d you come back from the dead?”

“That’s not for you to know,” she snarled.

“Do you blame Bonnie for what happened to you?”

“…No,” Caroline admitted, softening a bit. She never did. Of all the people she blamed, Bonnie was never one of them. She may have felt slighted in the past by Bonnie’s preference for Elena but the two were still good friends; Caroline could never hold Bonnie’s good nature against her. She didn’t even blame her for breaking the barrier – isn’t that what they all wanted? To get the cure…?

If anything, Caroline was disappointed Bonnie was blind to see the selfishness of those around her. The Salvatore brothers and their endless cycle of chaos; Elena and her indecisive ways; the Originals for bringing unrepentant destruction in their wake. Bonnie was a good soul taken advantage of by less than savory people who ought to have known better. She should’ve escaped that miserable town and made something of herself, not be held back by small town limits and vampire antics. 

“So,” Enzo interrogated with accusing eyes, “why shut her out? Why make her believe you’re dead?”

He didn’t fight her hold nor did it imply he was scared of her. Her strength and aura meant nothing to him.

“It’s safer that way,” Caroline obliged. “I can’t revisit the past. It’s too reckless.”

“Bonnie feels like it’s her fault you died,” Enzo said bitterly, no doubt blaming Caroline for inflicting such pain upon the woman Caroline once treasured. It felt like a punch to the gut and her breath hitched. “She couldn’t save you. You were too far gone in the darkness. She blames herself.”

“That’s not her burden!” Caroline shrilled, tears brimming. “No one asked her to do that! She needs to stop overexerting herself to save everyone! She can’t keep it up!”

For once, recognition flashed in his eyes, as if coming to the same understanding as Caroline. Malice dissipated in his features and his muscles relaxed. 

“For once, I found someone I can agree with,” he whispered. “Maybe you should tell her yourself. It’d ease her conscience.”

“I can’t,” Caroline choked. “I can’t endanger her. I have a life here and people I need to protect, in my own way. Believe me, or not, but I don’t want to harm Bonnie. She’s one of the few good ones left. Everyone else has their own troubles. I can’t be part of that.”

“Matt’s dead,” Enzo gauged her reaction.

Caroline mulled over her mind, wondering why she wasn’t as distressed by the news. “I’m not surprised,” she came to the conclusion. “Can I ask how?”

“Elena,” Enzo replied.

Oh – that did a number on Caroline. “She got him, too?”

“Not long after you, Gorgeous. Girl went on a bend and my old buddy Damon went after her. Thing was a wreck when she got her humanity back.”

“Was that Stefan’s doing?”

“You sure know your stuff,” Enzo remarked dryly. His lip curled upwards.

“No. They are just predictable,” she huffed with disappointment. “So, she’s wandering the world racked with guilt and trailed by the two vampires she’s strung along, never quite deciding her favorite,” Caroline finished with unimpressed grunt. “Where’s Bonnie in all of this?”

“At home, mourning,” Enzo supplied truthfully. “Her friend killed the other and became someone beyond reach; on the run, debating suicide daily while the two brothers’ do their best to keep her alive. I’ve been keeping her company.”

“How? Bonnie hates vampires,” Caroline accused. Even Bonnie had some distrust of Caroline, critical of her control, and always on alert with the Salvatore brothers. Ironic how she gravitated towards Damon, the worse of the two, while Stefan was left to his own devices. Damon, Elena, and Bonnie in their own corner; Caroline in the other while Stefan crisscrossed at his own leisure.

“She made a few exceptions,” he nudged along, patting her hand still attached to his collar. “We’ve been companions for damn near two decades. I’m watching her grow old and soon she’ll become senile, forever antagonized by the loss of her friends. Is that how you really want her to go?”

“Where’s Jeremy in all of this?”

“Dead, too. Suicide. Poor thing couldn’t handle his sister off the hinges,” Enzo answered. “No parents, doomed sister, few prospects – kid couldn’t handle having his life flipped upside down.”

She honestly wanted to pity Jeremey, having been in similar shoes, but all she could think about was those terrible words. _Good riddance_. It wasn’t her voice. It was menacing and accented, spurred on by something hot – like flames. _Kol. Or Old Kol_. Whatever festered inside her was triggered by the mention of his killer succumbing to a violent, untimely end.

“That certainly won’t help her psyche,” Caroline pondered aloud, almost relishing the fact. That kind of sadism didn’t belong to her – something else was bubbling up. She could feel Kol’s antagonism surge to the front, lapping up Elena’s karma like a delicacy. The grin on her face appeared long before she realized; only figuring it out after registering the confusion – and then disgust – on the vampire’s face.

Her grin dropped as she did her best to manage the situation.

She didn’t want to look like _that_ Original. She was the Good Original. She wanted no part in adopting the same terrible legacy they made for themselves.

“You tell Bonnie I died and I can’t come back. That’s not on her,” she poked into his chest so hard she was certain he’d bruise. He had winced when she did. “I would never blame her and she shouldn’t ever doubt that. I killed twelve witches for her and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. What Damon needs to do is stop exploiting rumors of my name to save his own ass or Elena’s. They know what they did and they aren’t above consequences like the rest of us. I paid the price and now I deserve my peace, don’t you think?”

She tried to angle with reason. He seemed like a sympathetic person. He cared for Bonnie – she could tell that much. His feelings were raw and unfiltered. If she could appeal to him on that note, perhaps she’d save them both the trouble in the future.

“We vampires can’t afford that luxury,” Enzo rejected, shoving away her prying finger. “We’re beyond death. Rest is out of our reach. Damon and Elena have been on the run for decades.”

“And they’d blame me for it,” Caroline filled in, evidently annoyed. “Damon and Elena would either expect me to let bygones be bygones, advocate for their freedom like I would have if I was still blind with loyalty, and I’d get some half-ass apology to make up for what so easily could have been permanent. This isn’t their own doing,” she gestured to herself. “The principle still remains. I died because of them. I died by _their_ hands. _I died_. No one can take that back or dismiss it. They didn’t bring me back and they don’t get to spin someone else’s doing to their own favor. Now I’m tied to someone else and my life is forever changed. I don’t have the freedom the way you think I do. I like an indentured servant now, exchanging the rest of my years to a single purpose,” she shoved one finger in his face, almost breaking his nose as she did so with subconscious strength. “I’m still under someone else’s thumb _but just not theirs_ ,” she rambled, cracking towards the end as her emotions gave way and tears betrayed her.

She quickly rubbed them away with the back of her wrist but they kept coming.

“I have to do everything secret now!” She sobbed. She waved broadly. “I’m told I have to stand by and do as I’m told; that my life has one purpose and one purpose only and once the people I’m protecting pass away, I can’t even see the person who promised me the world because now, I…” she shattered, hiccupping in between words.

A large hand soothed her back and pulled her inwards. Hot, damp cheek met cool fabric.

“I live my life under conditions and now I feel like Elena, always a pawn with people deciding things for me, and when I try to do what’s right, it goes terribly wrong. I can’t even see Klaus’s face without feeling shame because I kept this huge secret from him, and he’s going to be so angry with me, and he has every right to be,” she sobbed, rattling in his warm embrace.

“I don’t want to be alone but I can’t face the people I love without knowing I kept things from that,” she prattled on, nearly hoarse. “I hate hurting the people I love. There’s only so many people I have left in this world and when they go, I’m all alone and I have to carry all the terrible lies I told and… my mom, I miss my mom so much…I want her to be proud of me.”

How embarrassing – she was seeking consolation from a stranger in this little shop with people judging. All because someone brought up Bonnie, and every bit of guilt she suppressed in her new life surged with a roar, coaxing the worst build-up to finally explode within her stressed, fragile mental state.

“Here I thought you were some heartless bitch,” he attempted to humor her. His hand continued to rub soothing circles on her back as she hid her reddened face in his chest. He smelled good – but that was beside the point. “Poor thing, you’ve been burdened with a lot, and I don’t even know by who,” he mused curiously. “Must be serious if you’ve abided by their rules for this long.”

“She’s a terrible, evil, creepy little gnome,” Caroline shrilled, nearly collapsing in his arms. He caught her just as her knees buckled. His arm cradled her head as she clasped both around his waist, squeezing him unintentionally. His wheezing prompted her to loosen her hold.

She could imagine Katherine petrified by the display – or proud Caroline finally unleashed the turmoil eating her up. Then again, Katherine wasn’t shy of her own breakdowns. How many times could Caroline recount Katherine curled up on the kitchen floor lamenting how she fucked up five hundred years of her life, and how unfair it was she didn’t realize how much she wanted to embrace motherhood, until it was painfully clear she wouldn’t be given another chance besides Kol?

_I want to be married and loved! I want a house full of – full of – full of Kol’s and – (hiccup) – a girl! Just one! Like the one I had before everything went to shit! I want to come home to a big house full of family like I remember I had. I don’t mind traveling… but I want this!_ The doppelganger decided between hacking sobs _. I want what was taken from me! I want to do this again, and again. I want like four of them!_ She held up her fingers. _I’m a damn good mother! I can do it again! I want to do it right! I want something normal!_

That night both of them sought therapy in the form of vanilla ice cream, strawberries, extra chocolate squares, and excessive whip cream.

They weren’t as quiet as they hoped to be. Even someone who could sleep through a blizzard like Kol couldn’t withstand the commotion of two emotional women suffering mid-life crisis. He came in to investigate the ruckus and found the tear-stained women collapsed on the tile, ravishing the container with spoons.

_Uh, is everything okay?_ The nine-year-old asked in a panic.

_Kol,_ Caroline consoled _, you’re going to come across this often. We just… we have feelings and sometimes they can come on strong and suddenly. There’s no warning. We’re okay now. We just needed a moment._

_Do you need a hug?_ The boy insisted, already kneeling down to embrace the floor-squatters.

_Yes,_ both ladies whined, pulling him into the huddle.

Gods – it’s just been the two of them and Kol. Ava, too, but she wasn’t much of a hugger. She was more of a “unsolicited advice” and outdated “pull yourself by the bootstraps” kind of Boomer.

It was nice unloading onto someone new, even if they were a complete stranger. Hopefully her intuition wasn’t astray.

She pulled away and wiped away her dampened cheeks. Swallowing her pride, she looked him in the eyes.

“I’m sorry I’m a mess,” she sniffled, trying to temper down the redness of her face with useless fanning. “I just unpacked all my issues on you and I don’t even know your name.”

He merely smiled and held out a hand, offering to shake it out.

“Enzo. Enzo St. John.”

“Caroline Forbes,” she affirmed with the best smile she could muster. Hell, she’d be honest in what seemed like the first time in decades. She noted with visible veneration that he managed to track her down without her knowing – perhaps she’d honor his skills with some transparency. Hard work should be rewarded with just desserts.

“I heard a lot about you,” he assured jovially. “I’m glad to see Bonnie’s accolades didn’t disappoint.”

“Any friend of Bonnie’s is a friend of mine,” she accepted without judgement. After all, he knew more than anyone outside their exclusive circle. She didn’t feel like compelling him. He seemed like a genuine person and she didn’t want her own tears to go to waste on someone who didn’t hold them against her. Outside work, yeah – it’d be nice to make a friend. Especially since she’s already defying Claudia in her attempts to thwart Klaus on some wild goose chase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I'm so surprised I managed to get this thing out before the end of the week (because my schedule is going to get a hell lot busier now I'm going back full time! Bear with me!) 
> 
> 1) Kol is a sensitive, curious, giving soul and I plan for him to be a very happy person above all. Yes, he's powerful, but he's not to be defined by what he can do - not to be distinguished as a weapon - but as a soul who just yearns to have some sense of belonging AND THAT'S WHERE WE'RE GOING PEEPS! We're making it happen! 
> 
> 2) We're going to be making some friends!! Yay! You pumped? Because Enzo is my guy!! He got all the glowing recommendations! I trust him! And Caroline is going to, too! (Also - Kol and Enzo? Easy besties! Let's be honest! Next to Caroline who's all about it!) 
> 
> 3) YO, REBEKAH! She gets no love and I think she's under appreciated. She just wants love and acceptance. I think she and Katherine will empathize together on that level. Her and Caroline are hella protective and yeah - poor Kol doesn't know what's in store when he's bringing back Baby Sister onto the scene. (Also....psst... Rebekah and Caroline could totally be partners in crime - I'm just saying...imagine it... the awesomeness, especially with her knowing the little blonde is now an Original, too? Instant friend potential... okay less hyping, more writing... promise... ) 
> 
> SHITS FINALLY HAPPENING.   
> lemme know what you think is gonna happen - how will Rebekah react?? (because I'm torn between two scenarios, no spoiling either...)


	10. Duluth, p2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava makes a discovery - and maybe a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it has been so long since I updated!!! I swear all I do is eat, sleep, and work (back to back doubles, 80+ hrs!!), and read copious amounts of Bridgerton (my latest obsession) fanficiton which kills my sleep time (less than 4 hrs, I need help) - it's terrible!!
> 
> Anyhow, I already have 2 chapters set up, but this one is just the one I began to proof read and set up for something bigger (ENTER KLAUS!!!) 
> 
> Also, granting more background to Ava because I want to establish her as a major player. Both in defying her sister, the Fae system, and also crucial in uniting our favorite OTP. That and my not so secret vendetta about Elijah because HE ANNOYS ME SO MUCH as a hypocritical character that I needed to find alternative therapy. 
> 
> Make no mistake - this is Caroline x Klaus show, second to Kol, and tons of Katherine - but Katherine is going to be huge! I did a whole revision of my overall plot and Katherine is not going to be an idle character - momma is definitely proactive. 
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER IS HEAVY KOL POV. I assure you!! With sprinkles of Hostess Caroline!

Duluth

The end of the semester always stirred a sobering feeling within Ava. No students remained; the row of seats void; and the thin veil of illumination casted by the back lights would soon dispatch as she flicked the switch for the final time until break was over.

All that was left to do was the log off her computer, shut it down, roll up the screen, and gather her bag on her way out.

The clock indicated it was only half past four, as class ended early when presentations sped ahead schedule. Even then, the windows looking out onto the campus were curtained with the dismal twilight, soon to be replaced by darkness as the northern horizon succumbed to the curse of winter. If she made haste, she could return to her truck before the campus lamps automatically turned on; the roads were cleared of snow and other debris, so driving the thirty minutes home would be a breeze. She’d comfort herself with the radio and stop by the local student café for a needed pick-me-up.

The young pup barked at her feet, anticipating her routine. He was just as cute as the day she picked him up from Mike’s home, a relatively new breeder recommended from her previous on – both Michigan based. She always looked forward to the long drive, able to bond with her new companion on the way home right away.

He was more smokey than silver – a discount puppy, she liked to humor. His face was saturated with black, paralleled to a predominant blank saddle, while the legs and chest were cast a stark ashen gray. Distinguished markings that she deemed handsome. It wasn’t so much AKC characteristics she desired – far from it – but his lineage. Both parents were praised elk hunters and she intended for Brooks to follow suit – except for bigger game. Elk were fun but Moose…? Moose could feed her for months.

Not to mention she needed a fearless dog to coax out Wendigos and Dogmen who wander into her neck of the woods. The only good cryptid was a dead one. That philosophy never failed her.

His presence was dearly appreciated after the unexpected loss of her recent boy – Balfour – who succumbed to aggressive bone cancer at the prime of his life. His loss was just as tender as any other but the freshness of his passing still ached heavily in her heart.

She considered herself spoiled for a professor. Many turned a blind eye when she brought in her dog; most were excited for the new unofficial additional to staff. Today was a worthwhile occasional, allowing her students puppy play. A wonderful end-of-year treat; much needed stress relief. It brought out the best of their spirits. She also needed to socialize Brooks since he was only a few weeks – 14 to be exact – and the sooner, better. He’d grow into fifty pounds of muscle – way too much to risk bringing to class since he’d be harder to contain.

A sharp bark prompted her to hasten, swinging her bag over her shoulder and reaching down to clip the leash to his harness. The young, playful pup pulled and teethed on the authentic leather to no avail. The material could withstand even the sharpest of sabers. He flopped onto his back, kicking his paws up in his struggle to claim the leash as his own. Her wrist tugged with each attempt.

“I’m going, I’m going,” she promised sweetly. “You are so impatient.” 

With the monitor black and the white board back in full view, she surveyed the room on last time until she’d return next year – January being not too far but the holidays dragged out the wait.

She considered each cycle of students affectionately, grouping the next generation as a better alternative to kids of her own. She’d never have any – a consequence of her Halfling status; just as it stripped her mother of fertility after an arduous birth. Halflings weren’t meant to exist and those that did were void of any reproduction abilities – and for good reason. They were a trial to raise and volatile in nature.

She found purpose though in her talent to teach. Something she inherited from previous generations.

Her grandfather was an affluent hunter and a coach; he had raised her on the rink alongside the boys he brought up since children. Hockey was next to Church in the Meier household, much to her Grandmother’s chagrin. He was a man of many talents, keeping the fridge stocked by practicing carpentry, and enriching his soul with the brute sport that embodied Hockey. He could be gruff and hardened but she’d be damned if his oversight didn’t craft champions.

Her grandmother was a church leader at the Catholic Church, offering Sunday School services which Ava assisted in, clinging to her grandmother’s skirt despite the company of her aunts and cousins. They never took to her, finding her odd, and Ava avoided the ostracization and the pity that replaced it when her mother prematurely passed away.

As much as she loathed her stepfather, he had reluctantly offered her the opening she needed to start her profession. They never saw eye to eye until after the divorce. By them, the estrangement between mother-and-daughter was glacier, and Ava really asserted her independence after experimental rebellion. In the same span of time, her failed ex-father figure had received a damning diagnosis – pancreatic cancer – and with no surviving children of his own, he reluctantly reached out to make amends with the girl he treated poorly.

They didn’t talk much. Dinner every Thursday at Betty’s was tense; the rare drinks at Rathskeller did muster some insight between the two of them; but ultimately, quiet company was peak closure for either.

_“You still interested in college?”_

_At that point, she thought he was taunting her. It was the beginning of the nineties. She had been told her entire life college was something unrealistic. She grew up groomed for domesticity even though it never stuck. Why bother for a liberal education when humble trade was just a viable of an occupation? If anything, she needed to marry a man of similar upbringing. That’s what was drilled into her._

_“I thought you said girls has no point outside the house,” she harrumphed dryly. Not that she abided such ridiculously. Her grandfather trusted her with a gun and to make her mark; if she could take down an animal that weighed a ton and carve out the best meat, she had no patience for outdated domestic roles._

_“You never cared for what I had to say,” he returned dully. “You remember Sorenson?”_

_“The player or the professor?”_

_“My buddy from the science department. You met him twice.”_

_He was a biologist. If he was wasn’t such a patriarchal prick, he would’ve appreciated her insight on animal anatomy. But then, she was just a child – only in physicality. Hell, even in that present as she nursed a brandy old fashion with the other bastard, she could barely pass nineteen when, realistically, math would imply she should look closer to twenty-four. The whole half-your-age halfling rule didn’t really apply with her. Damn her baby-face._

_She dared not expose her fake ID to the old man and open herself up for more shit he’d be willing to toss her way. She was forty-eight and her legit ID was still scrutinized; her fake ID was given more credibility due to its realistic presentation – easier for herself to pass as a twenty-one-year-old if she applied enough make up._

_Big hair, obscenely pigmented purple shadow, striking liner, heavy mascara, and over emphasized lips – street walker stuff, her saintly grandmother condemned. She’d have a heart attack if she witnessed her beloved Ava mark her face with such unsavory things. Probably a good thing her mother’s death had done Agatha in, months after Rosie herself overdosed._

_“What about him?” she prodded with disinterest._

_“Take his class and let him guide you around campus. There are openings and I could get you in on referral. I remember you were good in school.”_

**_Top of my class_ ** _, she corrected sourly in her head. She may have been strong willed and a bane to the nuns but she was a quick learner. She could absorb and spit out facts force fed into her. Catholic school was a bitch but she had no say – that was all her Grandmother’s jurisdiction to decide her education – and her grandfather’s wallet to fund the venture, a financial stretch given their budget after ten kids going through the same ordeal. Who was she to complain and disrespect the elders so willingly to take her in when the others found every excuse to dismiss her?_

_The implication ‘I think that’s the first compliment you ever gave to me’ went unsaid but acknowledged with stern eyes._

_“I’d appreciate that,” she reciprocated gratefully._

_That was that – nothing else was said. The man passed halfway through her sophomore year of college._

_He only offered a warning not to tarnish his reputation with her usual bit of rowdiness and personally delivering her acceptance letter to her house, advising her to sell the two-bedroom beater after ‘the old man goes’ because even then he doubted her ability to handle home ownership. Her grandfather, Joe, was coming to the end of his days. His heart was giving out and everyone could hear it with every awful hack he mustered from his roost across the TV._

She wanted to be something. A scientist maybe. A veterinarian perhaps. A teacher didn’t cross her mind until a professor of hers said Ava had a proclivity for structure and oral confidence – someone who could easily speak and keep things in order for easy processing. Her enthusiasm for the sciences and hands-on experience also made her personable and passionate. That kind of mindset was good for leadership roles. Should she desire it, the councilor offered, perhaps take up the position of an aid to get a taste of class management?

The curious venture led to her take up a classroom of her own at the same school she studied at. Too many years spent typing, publishing, defending, and ultimately, obtaining all the credentials to earn her a proper license to teach.

These students were her legacy. She was proud of that.

She had only taught for a few years before she set it all aside for Kol. Hell, she even relinquished her season tickets to the UMD hockey games – that was the true travesty. Thankfully, she fondly discovered, after eleven years living abroad to tutor him full time, and then allocating the rest to sole summer visitation (on her home soil, where Katherine and Caroline made themselves comfortable along the banks of Lake Superior), she was able to persuade the school to reinstate her position, and even argued for a higher wage. Not that she needed it – but it was a welcomed boost.

Truly, being bestowed her seasonal tickets with the same designated seat was the best part.

And the extra funds to visit the Isle Royale National Park to study the wolf and moose population for her students was a wonderful addition, too. It boosted her class’ popularity and to her surprise, the Spring semester had an annual waitlist.

Her pup anxiously barked at the door. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be excited but this was a different type of excitement. His ears curled bark and his stance was defensive, sensing something on the other side.

She felt it, too. Ava had been so lost in her own thought she nearly missed the prickly sensation that overcame her senses. Someone was waiting on the other side. The same foreboding feelings she got when a Wendigo was near alarmed her. It wasn’t the cannibal she feared – they never dared venture so far into the urban center – but others like it had acclimated to society. Werewolves and Vampires who donned human personas until their appetites became too ravenous to disguise.

Her green eyes glowed like neon as her defenses heightened and she felt the wind stir around her. Outside, a howling blizzard kicked up. Trees whipped wildly and whistling wind intensified.

Fearing for Brooks’ safety, she plucked the small dog up from the carpet and tucked it in her arms. A hand covered its’ sensitive ears and she buried it under the coverage of her goose down coat. The thin panel of glass offered little insight on who might linger on the other side. Whoever lurked severely underestimated her.

A Meier was a tough breed of people. They rarely chose flight. Not even when her grandpa realized he was being stalked by a mountain lion. Running was never an option – not with a specialized predator always locked in on its prey.

She wasn’t scared of a damn cat. And she wasn’t scared of a Wendigo.

But she was scared of pain. She was terrified of it. She’d rather have her head swiped clean by an angry grizzly than face whatever deliberate torture her visitor intended to torment her with.

She remembered that terrible searing pain of iron across her palm when she mistakenly grabbed the fire stoker to reawaken the fireplace after it smoldered into mere embers; the scar was still traceable an. A horrid example of a child’s carelessness. She remembered the vivid anguish of tearing out her foot on the rocky bottom of the lake. Worse, the agony of her wrist snapping when the truck’s faulty hood fell upon it when she tried to recharge a dead battery in the dead of winter. No functional car, broken wrist – the gratitude she extended to her savior neighbor was endless. Mr. Geis had heard her wailing across the woods – a significant distance considering her property encapsulated 87 acres.

She felt it in her bones. She had her suspicions who lurked in the hall, waiting to ambush her. They were old and angry. Like a starving Wendigo deprived of meat, the power and antiquity of this individual was unparalleled. She knew the inevitable had finally come. He was as patient as he was creative.

Without the coverage of a blinding blizzard, she had to deploy something else.

She held out her hand, feeling the current. The air was cool and low. Not hot enough to create a small vortex. If she could barricade the door with a powerful vacuum of air, not even the likes of him could breach it.

Heat wasn’t her strong suit. She hated it. She preferred the cold. It was easy to manifest cooler temperatures, fascinated by the frost that consumed the surface, and walk safely on the lakes knowing the ice she stood on was thick enough to secure a truck.

But it wasn’t completely impossible. Iron was a formidable opponent to her kind but the knob itself was a different metal. She contorted her face in focus, hovering her hands above the silver looking handle.

It wasn’t anything like boiling water. She likened it to a spark – as if flickering a lighter. Her palm felt an ache but she chose to ignore it. She needed to keep the pressure constant. Just enough to maintain a hot spot, slowly but surely spreading.

If he intended to pay her back for the hot metal she splayed across his back, she was going to ensure his palm was scorched, too, when he finally mustered the will to breach.

Ava Meier wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

What’s to say he wouldn’t burst down the door as a show of strength? She stepped back considerably, knowing the impact would hinder her. Strength and endurance wasn’t her strong suit. A door of that size would surely daze her.

That’s why Fae favored whit; physicality was not their element – unless they crafted it into something with more force, like a body of water, or a funnel of wind. However, that depended on making most of the current conditions, and unfortunately, she was at a severe disadvantage.

If only she could escape to the outside… she could do something more potent than merely heat a knob.

BREAK

Elijah didn’t anticipate being sabotaged by a damn dog.

His advantage of surprise was ruined and now he stood outside the classroom in suspense, unsure of what awaited him on the other side.

He only met her twice – three, if he counted Bergen, actually – and it unnerved him how easily she caught him off guard. He was desperately hoping to gain an edge but the damn dog set off alarms.

Who brings a dog to class anyways?

Elijah never considered himself scared. He was a man capable of great things – nothing to indicate he should be frightened of _anything._ He was top of the chain.

But he knew he should tread lightly. She had a pattern of taking him by surprise.

The smell of something burning alarmed him. He looked down to see the handle glow a bright red. His hand retracted instinctively. He’d have to enter another way to avoid the inconvenience.

Whatever plan he was calculating was deafened by the blaring screech of the fire alarm. The sharp shrill assaulted his ears and he covered them out of habit, hoping to muffle the noise. His attuned sense of hearing did not do him any favors. He winced initially, finding trouble adjusting.

After acclimating to the terrible ruckus, he boldly breached the front door by using his mass to splinter the wood. The meek lock stood little chance against his force and caved upon impact.

He didn’t know what to expect but an empty classroom was not it.

Nothing. No dog. No Ava. Nothing to suggest their presence.

All the remained was the high-pitched whistle of an open window.

The two-story jump, he examined, had been softened by three feet of snow. An imprint of a body was plain to see.

BREAK

When she was younger, she found she could manipulate wind.

The worst of it came after her mother died. So fraught with grief, she manifested her angst in a waterspout. No harm was done – but the velocity startled her. Nearly two decades prior, a Fae dispute had levelled Fridley with two different F-4s thirty minutes apart. She knew the damage she could inflict if she wasn’t careful. She was surprised she didn’t stir up another November Witch as she fumed silently on the shore, hiding her rage behind ragged breaths.

The better of it stemmed from childhood curiosity. She would parachute herself from the second story loft onto the side yard, softening her landing, much to the amazement of her grandfather. She fear no heights because she could alter the wind to her favor. She was fearless in that pursuit.

Or the time she overestimated her speed skiing down a black diamond. That wall of wind still hurt but she’d rather soften the blow by hitting a wall of wind rather than a mountain of spruce trees.

“Sorry, baby,” she cooed, muffling the whimpering dog’s ears. She didn’t mean to deafen him with the fire alarm but the idea came to her as she realize heat could burn plastic, too. It triggered the desired response and she made haste while Elijah was temporarily incapacitated. He wouldn’t hear their hasty escape.

She needed to pursue an advantage.

Heights didn’t scare her. Scaling onto the ledge of the two-story window and looking at the unpaved snowbank below gave her plenty of hope. The wind picked up and the picked a certain point for it to whip, so she’d stifle the impact of her descent.

She was smaller then – pushing four feet – but she was five-foot-three now. It felt slightly different in an adult body putting so much faith in gravity. She had to take into consideration she was toting a wiggling puppy and a bookbag on one shoulder.

_This was way above her paygrade,_ she scoffed. Casting one last look back, she faithfully leapt into the bitter cold darkness.

BREAK

Just because she was a seasoned Minnesotan didn’t mean she didn’t despise driving through a blinding blizzard. Her trusted truck could withstand the temperature, even handle the ice granted her experience to correct the wheels at the first sign of slipping, but the easy thirty-minute drive was pushed another fifteen minutes as she tried to keep on the pavement.

_Billy Joel_ kept her moral, belting _We Didn’t Start the Fire_ alongside her howling dog as she made the slow right turn onto her no-name street. The green reflective sign had disappeared years earlier to no complaints of the residents – they hated tourists and strangers venturing down their private road. She was surprised to see the green gate that blocked the road hadn’t been closed; perhaps Mr. Geis had anticipated bad weather and wanted to make it easier for her to come home.

She honestly was surprised to know the old coot was still kicking at seventy-six. Then again, her Grandpa Joe didn’t go until 1992. According to his birth certificate, that made him 112, but that wasn’t right. Half his paperwork didn’t make sense anyways. Minnesotans tended to push past the national average; the hardiest could survive the weather. She theorized it was pure spite that drove them past ninety.

The plows wouldn’t come until morning and that was just state sanctioned roads; her stretch of gravel was the homeowners responsibility. She was just glad to be leave Elijah behind her.

Her large tires crunched the fresh snow on the gravel, rolling through breezily. Headlights cut through the dark, illuminating the bark of trees and, to her alarm, a set of low-lying eyes.

Her foot slammed the breaks Her car halted with a jolt and she clutched the wheel for poise. Her dog piped up a worrisome squeak as it scrambled for footing in her passenger seat.

“You okay, Brooks?” she asked, consoling it with reassuring scritches between bent ears. “Good boy. Stay here.” 

She was met with a different set of barks as she propped open the door and jumped onto the ground, unafraid.

“Gunner, what the hell? What are you doing out, boy?” she beckoned the yellow lab closer. He padded ahead into her reach, nudging his nose into her legs and wagging his tail profusely. They were friends since puppyhood. He was pushing ten now. “I nearly ran you over! You can’t be jumping out like that!”

Her brows knitted together. It was unlike the dog. He was a seasoned Duck Retriever. He knew better. His manners were exceptional. He also was tied to his owner’s side. There was no way he’d be out in this weather. “Hey, where’s your old man?” Her thoughts fixed on the aging Mr. Geis. “He’s not supposed to be out here!

The song changed behind her. She recognized _Don’t Fear the Reaper_ right away. Something didn’t set well in her gut as she registered the lyrics. Call it paranoia… “Mr. Geis?” she called out, echoing for a minute. The lab whined and paced nervously. “Lawrence? You okay?”

She inspected Gunner – no blood. That was good. “Alright, let’s stop by your place,” she changed priorities. “In the cab you go! Up and at em’! There we go, you old oaf,” she prodded him in through her side. He sniffed the puppy, wagged his tail, and padded to the back row where she didn’t mind the smell of wet dog soiling her seats. It was already engrained from previous expeditions.

Anticipating trouble, Ava had her guard up. She never brought her gun to campus out of fear of termination. She wondered if she should detour to her house, passing Mr. Geis’s home, just to get her gun as a precaution.

Time was of the essence though. She’d have to settle for something else. In the bed of her truck, under the tarp, she knew she had something to fit the bill.

The lights of the two-story cottage was not a welcomed sight for Ava like she had hoped. Mr. Geis was frugal about bills – he only needed on light and that was either the TV or the kitchen, never both. To see the house well-lit like a Christmas tree indicated something was amiss. Gunner barked nervously. Not excitable yips like a dog happy to be home but a dog sparked with a different emotion, far more apprehensive and teetering on panic.

Everything was making more sense and she gritted her teeth. She didn’t believe in coincidences. Her timing was delayed. She also knew an angry, determined vampire could make haste and outrun a truck abiding the speed limit. If Elijah’s memory was impeccable and there was not a doubt in her mind it was, then she was going to walk into a whole different kind of trouble.

But the idiot was in her territory now.

She only hoped either Mr. Geis was alive and out cold, or more likely, dead, and if so, then she hoped it was a swift end.

“Stay put,” she ordered, locking the door behind her. She shut off the engine even though the cab light still lit up the two vocal dogs barking for her attention. She was cautious as she rounded the vehicle, ensuring she trudged a neat circle around it – a basic fairy ring that enabled a temporary barrier. Nothing pissed her off more than a dead dog, should Elijah want to make an example.

Grabbing her case, she plucked a single cannister from its padding. Tilting it ever so slightly, she snagged a single quill that poured from its contents. It was an ambiguous brown color, layered at the top with gradient shades. She dared not touch the tip. She would have attached it to her bow for special hunts – the quill was more potent than just a metal tip.

For safe measure, she also collected a small glass vital with white, fine powder. The last thing she needed was to poke herself. She dabbed some on her finger and then laced it onto her teeth, wiping the fine substance with her tongue obsessively until it dissolved completely. Better safe than sorry. Tucking the powder back into the case next to the cannister, she locked the metal contraption and rolled the tarp back into place, closing the hutch with a soft thud using one hand and keeping the quill hidden up her sleeve in the other.

The whistling wind disguised her steps as she maneuvered to the side of the house, avoiding the front door. She was too short to see through the panes but she could lean back into the tree line a few yards back, making sure keep her eyes lows knowing they’d glow through the white wall of snow.

From the greater distance, she could spy an individual certainly not the hunched over Mr. Geis. She didn’t recognize him. Dark hair, that’s all she could make out. Some stubble. Light eyes. It insulted her to see him, clear as day, making himself comfortable by the kitchen counter. The TV was shut off and Mr. Geis was nowhere to be seen.

Ava felt her stomach plummet wondering if this stranger was washing his hands of blood as he deterred to the sink, scrubbing away at his fingers. He had looked to the door with anticipation. He was dumb to think she’d willingly walk into a trap. Hiding behind a large, wispy pine, she prepared for another alternative.

He likely didn’t know, as kids, she and Margaret would climb through the basement. Too narrow for a man. Big enough for pests like herself to slip in. Mr. Geis never locked it. She was still small. She could do it. The wind was howling. He was shielding his face as it battered his body. He would retreat inside a moment after, closing the door loudly.

Preparing a diversion, she conjured a wind so great, she mentally apologized to Mr. Geis for threatening his house. The screen door battered and rammed; the back door shook. The stranger was confused at first, looking at both with apprehension. _Good,_ she thought vindictively.

The noise was enough for her to crack open the narrow window at ground level and find footing on Mr. Geis’ hefty wooden work bench. She was careful not the nudge the metal work as she shimmied onto the foundation, still hearing the rattling from above as the doors and frames crack under the pressure.

Her steps were light and she was cushioned by a rug as she turned, sitting on the surface until she got a clear view of the floor in the darkness. From memory, she knew the stairs would be parallel.

The wooden steps would be a challenge. They creaked and certainly not up to code. Elijah would hear her even with the ruckus. She’d rather not put herself at a disadvantage of being pushed down or ambushed.

That concern was momentarily halted as she spied a roundish silhouette sprawled on the floor.

She had seen death first-hand many times. She had been the source for most – but when it came to human life, she could count the corpses on one hand.

Her mother – a startling sight given their lengthy estrangement; the bitter reunion was haunted by her mother’s discolored face – the consequence of her many addictions. She preferred to think of Rosie through her glamourous headshots, like the one they framed outside her closed casket.

Her Uncle Roy. A veteran, just like Mr. Geis, but Roy was brought up in a society where he was expected to overcome his trauma from the trenches. Vietnam was something terrible. She was so young but sheltered; she scarcely heard a word from him. He preferred it that way. He coped with alcohol and excessive shooting, until one day, game animals dulled as a distraction, and he took only his gun to the garage where he remained for a week. Ava was the unfortunate soul called upon to see if he was home and knew something was amiss. Blood did not bother her; yet, recalling the splatter on the concrete wall was a loathsome sight to behold. That was the eighties – much too long ago but still vivid in memory.

Her beloved Grandfather was rigid in his rocking chair. That’s how she discovered him after spending half the day in class. The blow was expected. Everyone knew it was a matter of time before his body gave out. By then, she was numb. No blood, no strange color – it was as if he was sleeping.

Unlike her grandmother, whom she was spared the sight of, which Ava was eternally thankful for. Agatha had suffered a heart attack in the kitchen – not the quickest or easiest death. She looked strange on her viewing day, like clay caked on her face, but it was better than imagining her final expression. 

Mr. Geis was different. His neck was torn but little blood pooled. The work of a Vampire. He looked broken and battered. _Disrespectful_ , she seethed. The elderly man had earned his peace after his years in service; only to be attacked in the comfort of his own home and brutalized in the most savage manner. Despite his experience and hardened demeanor, he stood no chance. Vampires carried an unfair advantage that way. She knew only a few who didn’t abuse their anatomical benefit.

She’d make the stranger pay for it.

She spied a bow hanging above the mantle on the side wall, next to his other hunting gear. _Ugh._ How she despised the instrument. She’d rather opt for an easy trigger. Not to say aim was her weakness – far from it – but her strength was limited; the brutal cold stiffened her joints. It was not an optimal winter weapon. Especially one adjusted for a man’s handling.

Her peers joked she was Annie Oakley. Not Katniss Everdeen. Such jests were for a reason.

But it was silent and should she fix the quill atop it, it’d do its purpose. She dared not compromise herself with a notable click of the gun or its prattling. Even if she knew she could handle his Browning. Beautiful choice of gun, if anyone asked her.

“I’ll get him good, I promise,” she lipped near silently to the corpse. She closed his grey clouded eyes. “Would you say hi to Grandpa for me, please?” she concluded, knowing they were fond hunting companions. They would reunite on the other side, likely to replay their best days’. That thought brought a comforting warmth to her.

BREAK

Damon didn’t not know what to expect. He had his instructions. Elijah promised leniency should he comply; rid him of the woman – an easy task by the sound of it – and Elijah would offer reprieve on his and Elena’s behalf should Stefan’s words hold truth. Caroline alive meant Damon and Elena would no longer need to run. All was good, right? He dare not question the logistics; stranger things have occurred – and to Caroline’s credit, she was a nuisance that he never seemed to be rid of.

He should’ve known Elijah was withholding important details. This was no ordinary witch. The winter brewed a brutal wind that rattled the beams, the foundation, and everything in between. He was blind to the outside, barely able to distinguish his own hand before his face. The air hissed and howled; the worst he’d ever seen. Minnesota Winters were Hellish.

He was angry and hungry and that blathering old man should have known better than to invite him inside. His fault for ignoring his instincts. It cost him his life.

He damn near jumped out of his body when the door burst open. The icy air poured in, prickling his skin, and he rushed ahead to the front to inspect the damage. The floodlights blared but all he saw was white. Tears sprung in his eyes as the cold nipped at his face. He felt everything burn upon exposure. He squinted to see better but to no avail. A cursed escaped his lips.

Something was amiss. He’d never admit to being frightened but _not knowing_ was a risk he did not like. Why was he sent on this errand and not Elijah? Certainly, this was no ordinary witch that Elijah had no time to dispatch himself, not the way he had phrased it for Damon to bite the bait.

A sharp pang. Nothing extreme but enough to make him jolt. The cold numbed everything else.

Looking down, he couldn’t ignore the lengthy metal rod protruding from his chest. Not impaling his heart, thank goodness, but deeply embedded where a lung would reside. An arrow…?

He pulled it out with critical examination, grunting with each rip the three-pronged arrow carved. They were a crack shot. He survived worse. He noted a broken quill taped to its bloodied, metal tip. That explained the awful sensation still in his chest. _Whatever for…?_ The little, snappable quill was of no significance.

“You missed, bitch!” he bellowed.

“No, I didn’t.”

He jolted when snow crunched not a second after a female spoke. Eyes flittered about angrily to catch sight of the source.

He sneered. “You stupid…”

“Just wait,” the faceless voice yelled through the howling.

He didn’t know what to expect. Extensive bleeding? No. He’d stitch up naturally and then he’d snap her neck for her insolence.

Only, he found it troublesome to move. The cold had numbed him – and then he felt too numb to feel the cold. It alarmed him to feel nothing and the slightest breeze propelled him back inside, landing hard on the shag carpet and wheezing to breath. Arms sprawled at his sides and his neck fixed at an angle, allowing him only the sight of the plastered wall and an exception deer mount. He was helpless but his sense were sharp; her steps were closing in on him. Damn her – he could not see her! He could only blink.

Boot met wood; she was on the porch. A stomp then a muffled scuff. He could feel the vibration of her entering inside, closing the door softly when she treaded into the foyer. The howling was dulled and she walked elsewhere, still out of sight, discard something – a heavy object, a bow no doubt – onto the counter.

“What did you do to me, bitch?” he demanded.

“Good,” she voiced mirthfully. “You can talk. The poison doesn’t incapacitate that until, er, I’d guess two or so hours. Plenty of time to get answers and if I feel generous, I’ll put you out of your misery.”

“Good luck with that,” he strained bitterly.

“I can be quite convincing, or merciful, if need be. Depends on how you answer. I can reciprocate. See? I’ll begin in good faith. I’m Ava. Ava Meier. Who are you?”

“None of your business,” he choked. It sounded like he was strangled.

“The more you fight it, the more it’ll hurt,” she chided in a singsong voice. “Just relax. At worst, your heart will give out. Think of it like euthanasia. Just… falling into a deep, deep sleep. There are worse ways to go.”

_Elena._ Her face. That’s all he thought about.

“Well, no, sorry, I misspoke,” she mused lightly. “That usually comes after the…”

Burning. Everything burned. He yowled but helpless to do anything about the eruption of flames under his flesh. He thought his voice broke. He wanted to tremble but his limbs felt heavy.

“It’ll pass,” she assured, tapping his chest. She was not gentle in her touch. It was rough and assertive. It only agonized the pain more as she further lodged the broken quill into his chest cavity. “Do your best to bite your tongue. Not too hard. I still need you to answer a few questions for me.”

Elijah had set him up. That bastard! No wonder he wanted to wash his hands of her.

He didn’t realize he bellowed the bastard’s name in a moment of unbridled agony.

Nor did he miss her disgruntled voice afterwards. “Why am I not surprised? I suppose I can haste the process. Do you want me to? Put you out until the burning ends…?”

He wanted to nod. He couldn’t. Panic overwhelmed him. He choked a ‘ _Yes_ ’ after much struggle.

“As you wish.”

BREAK

Ava was a woman of her word. Also, his screaming was a terrible nuisance. She could not stand the sound of it. It benefit them both when she placed the pillow cushion over his face, waiting for him to silence. Sweet, sweet silence.

He’d wake up, frightened and immobile. She spent the time in between then and later by sprucing up Mr. Geis’ home. The vampire made a mess of the furniture and the carpet was soiled with blood. There was not enough bleach to combat the massive stains nor could her nose handle the pungent stench.

Obviously, she’d have to talk to Sheriff Callahan to turn the other cheek. He’d done so before when he asked her and other experienced hunters to dispatch the Wendigo further up north after three hikers disappeared. He was more transparent about the happenings of the North than most let on.

She respected Caroline for being so tidy as a whole. Ava appreciated a clean space. The less mess, the better. Kol had been conditioned to do the same – enable by both his guardian and tutor. It was a generational thing – her own habits stemming from her grandmother’s insistence she would not make a barn out of her home.

“You’re awake!” She sang happily. He was still immobile and looking off the side. His eyelids blinked quickly and his lips quivered. “Can you talk?”

He sputtered. She patted his chest and he made no cry. She winced.

“Uff da,” she remarked in the most stereotypical fashion. “I think the poison is more aggressive than most. I thought it was the opposite way around since your blood doesn’t flow naturally. Usually takes three days to kill a man. Looks like time is of the essence. At least let me know your name.”

“Bitch,” he croaked.

“ _Hi Bitch_ , if you don’t remember, my name is Ava. I won’t lie and say we’re going to be fast friends but otherwise, I think you’re in good hands compared to most,” she grinned out of his peripheral. She tapped his chest for good measure, seeing no more blood sputter from the wound. “Let me explain what’s happening to you. I do appreciate transparency. Right now, you’re suffering the second stage of Pukwudgie poison. Nasty little devils. You ever heard of them?”

He forgot he couldn’t nod his head. “No,” he suffered through.

“They look like giant, bipedal porcupines with man-faces. Between them and the Wendigo, it’s very disconcerting. Anyways, they have big quills on their back that they use as arrows. These quills are lined with very potent poison that is neurotoxic. You know what that means?”

Every time he wanted to nod, he couldn’t.

“It means – it’s a toxin that effects the nervous system. Shuts down everything. The respiratory system being the last. Your heart will be the last to give out and that’s how you die. Honestly, it’s terrible, but they rarely employ such methods. They prefer to guide you to a cliff’s edge and push you off – the fact people still follow strange lights in the woods is just plain Darwinism. I think it’s more of a defensive mechanism than an offensive one. The only way I got my hands on one is when it fell into my snare. Said not so nice things to me. I shot it dead. Harvesting such an animal was a feat but hey, I got forty quills out of it, and the antidote – which is the bone marrow, by the way – and Wendigo hunting is _so much easier now_.”

How could she speak so casually to him? It wasn’t like she was purposely taunting him. She was plain in speech, unfeeling, and matter of fact. She didn’t intent to jab. She spoke as if he was just an acquaintance while passing time.

“Enjoy hearing yourself talk?” he countered mid-choke.

“I’m actually fascinated by the effects. I’ve never employed it on a vampire before,” she obliged with the most infuriating, friendly demeanor. “You’ve just proven my hypothesis wrong. I’m surprised. Don’t mind me as I observe. In the meanwhile, feel free to contribute as much as you want in this conversation. I’m pretty amiable.”

He wanted to laugh at the irony but he sputtered something incoherent.

“Thing is…” she leaned in, crouching above him. He still could not see her. “Vampires rarely come up here. There’s nothing to do except hockey and hunt. Maybe sightseeing and we have wonderful parks but it’s just too damn cold.”

They could agree on that.

“It’s also Wendigo territory. Not even dogmen venture up here. The few that do are passing by.”

_Wendigo. Dogmen. Pukwudgie._ Where the fuck did Elijah send him?

“Also, the fact the Fae have a stronghold here. Odd, considering we’re a huge Iron Ore industry, but Minnesota is full of them, don’t you know? St. Paul is the worst. I’d asked if you ever been but since they locked it down in the twenties – you can thank Elijah for that – no vampires have been permitted inside St. Paul. It’s an old, traditional city. Prejudices hold strong.”

“How?”

“Oh, he speaks! Glad you came to!” she eagerly patted his arm.

“How… did… Elijah…” He fell into silence, feeling his throat constrict.

“Story time! Mind me – I was not alive to have a personal account but I was told that Elijah and his brother… not Kol… Klaus! That one! They did not abide by the Fae rules and were hastily told they could get the hell out of dodge before sundown or face being made an example of. _Do not, I repeat, do not challenge the Fae_. _Especially the Irish ones_. They are spiteful bastards and they made clear on their threat. I’m not sure what they did but no vampire has been permitted to set foot in the capitol ever since… 19… 20… 5 or 6. Don’t quote me on that! Dates are not my strong suit. My apologies for that. I’m a science teacher; not a history professor.”

He thought of Professor Shane. Blast from the past. A sour period of his past. When thought of the professor, he thought of Mystic Falls, and that was a place he hadn’t ventured to in a long, long time.

“As much as I love exchanging stories, I’m curious about you! Your name, your home, _your business_ ,” she emphasized with more intensity towards the end. “I have the antidote if you’re willing to work for it. Elijah sure as hell doesn’t. I’m pretty sure he sent you on a suicide mission. He tried to intercept me but alas, as per usual, he fails miserably.”

“Bastard,” he hissed.

“The antidote…” she snag. Now she was taunting him, waving a vile of white powder in his clear peripheral.

“Damon,” he choked. “Damon Salvatore.”

She paused and blinked.

“Damon Salvatore. Brother to Stefan Salvatore. Tied to Elena Gilbert. Once attached to Katherine Pierce. Huh, what a small world…” she mused darkly. Her eyes burned into his chest and side of his head.

“You know me,” he said as if he were smirking but his facial muscles were numb. Ava obviously knew more than she let on. As to how, was beyond him.

“Too well,” she growled. “This,” she said, while baring teeth, “changes everything.” She retracted the antidote.

Ava had known Caroline for damn near twenty years. Caroline was become someone she treasured. A close confidant. A friend and ally. Caroline reminded her of someone she wished she known. Caroline was someone she as hoped her mother could’ve been. Yet, Caroline and Rosie were subjected to the same trauma that unraveled their well-done plans in life.

For Rosie, it was the deception from a man who’d burden her with his reminder every day. Caroline was compelled and muted in the same, abusive manner at the hands of Damon. She and Rosie were sworn to belittle themselves and make nice at society’s convenience. Friends and Family forsaken them in some façade of progress and peace, at their own expense. Rosie lost her livelihood and ultimately, her life in a slow, tragic self-induced suicide; Caroline lost her life twice – once to vampirism, another to a stake in the heart. Both used, abused, and misguided by the men in their life.

Neither really talked about their demons but Ava was perceptive to the haunt in their eyes, the way they conditioned themselves to wave it off and swallow it down, taught not to share their troubles. A woman knows; someone who witnessed it first-hand felt it in her gut.

Another shared link was Ava – she cared intensely about both.

That’s why, interrogation be damned, she wanted nothing more than for Damon Salvatore to suffer the same degree he inflicted upon others.

“Answer me this,” she decided. “I’m curious how Elijah is colluding with you. I’ll be straight. This is not going to end well for you. I like transparency. Everyone deserves that respect. Elijah, the slimy little leech that he is, is not known for such things. So, perhaps you’d be a bit more amiable with me since I’m sparing you the whole torture element that his kind tend to favor, and also, the fact that he more or less sold you out, I think… anyone really… it’s kind of nice to get the last word and fuck them over, you know? We’re allowed to be petty. This will benefit us both. So, considering complete sentences are not your strong suit, how about I ask _Yes or No_ questions, you grunt twice for YES, once for No.”

“Elena,” he choked.

“Oh, your girlfriend,” she pondered. 

“Elena… Elijah… has… Elena…”

“Oh, so he has leverage,” she narrowed her eyes.

“If Klaus wants you both dead, why is Elijah harboring you? That’s _interesting_ ….” She pondered more so to herself, pursing her lips. “Why wouldn’t he just pry you for the information he needed and then oust you himself? He’s actually quite effective when it comes to extracting what he needs and fucking off. Hmm.” She waved dismissively.

Then another question quickly came to mind. “Do Klaus know?”

Damon grunted. Her brow raised high in surprise and then her eyes squinted, quick to speculate.

“Noted. Klaus has no idea Elijah is holding this over your head.”

Damon grunted twice.

“Does he know Elijah is tracking Caroline…?”

Damon grunted twice.

“Looks like Elijah has his own agenda if he’s keeping secrets from Klaus, makes me wonder what his intention is if he gets to Caroline first,” she hummed to herself darkly. Secrets between brothers usually spelt troubled waters.

Troubled waters was her specialty.

The storm had dulled significantly. The whistling had descended from a sharp whistle to sweet silence. Her mood had calmed. There was certain correlation – after all, didn’t she inherit influence over the wind when her bastard of a father sired her? A nasty habit of hers – intended or not.

Which meant, she realized, Elijah would have no obstacles in his way on his way to intervene.

That man was meticulous about inspecting his work, or so she heard.

“Thanks for obliging me,” she tapped his chest. She felt something hard in his pocket and narrowed his eyes, confident it was a phone. She dug into the cavity and discovered it to be locked. Though, when she lowered it to parallel Damon’s face, it unlocked with ease.

“Typical,” she remarked dryly. “You have your uses yet,” she smirked as she scrolled through his messages.

She didn’t need to digest the entire conversation between Original and Damon to gather the sum of it. Last messages made it clear Elijah wanted Ava out of the way – but that wasn’t the case. Elijah had all but cornered her; if anything, she imagined he’d bring her back, and finish Damon himself. He just wanted Damon to be a sitting duck while he collected someone more valuable – Ava.

_Ugh – what a prick_ , she silently snarled.

Patience wasn’t her best virtue. She was waiting on the dial tone before she realized how quickly her fingers tapped the icon.

The initiative click of the recipient accepting the call prompted her to speak before either could confirm her intended was on the other line.

She was up on her feet and out the door. Privacy was always appreciated. The door clicked behind her and the soft wind of winter kissed her cheeks. She paid it no mind.

“Damon – what a surprise,” a voice replied.

“Damon is a bit indisposed right now,” she chirped.

They paused to contemplate – not having heard her voice before.

“And who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

“The name is Ava. I believe you and I have a mutual friend. Blonde, a bit neurotic, way too optimistic to be human – you know the one.”

“You know Caroline.” He surmised. He sounded on edge, which Ava could understand.

“I do,” she sang, “for quite some time. Delightful girl. I also heard plenty about you, Klaus,” she grinned. “She thinks highly of you. I was asked to intervene on her behalf. As you can imagine, the political environment right now is a bit testy. Is that something you think we could do?”

“I don’t particularly trust middlemen.”

“Neither do I,” she stepped back, looking into the window. “Which is why I’m wondering how Damon Salvatore and your meddlesome brother are in collusion? I thought I’d let you know and you can use that keen nose of yours to sniff out whatever other plots your brother may be masterminding. I do like transparency.”

“How are you certain they are colluding?”

“Considering Elijah tried to corner me earlier, and then sent Damon to my house – which, the idiot couldn’t even get right; my neighbor didn’t deserve to die the way he did. I don’t like Elijah but I don’t have the energy to play cat-and-mouse with him. Manage your brother before I expose Caroline to any kind of risk he might pose.”

“Do you have proof?”

Even then, kin stuck up for one another. Who was he to trust the words of a stranger? He didn’t know her from Adam.

“Damon is currently comatose under a healthy dose of Pukwudgie poison; he’s talking and after that, I foresee a Fargo rerun because I have a fully operational woodchipper and I don’t have patience for arrogant abusers. That is, if you don’t mind me encroaching. I know Caroline sent you on a task. If you press Elijah enough, maybe he’ll cough up Elena’s location. That’ll be your partial redemption. He did promise the duo reprieve for their help.”

“Duly noted. Pray tell, how do you know Caroline?”

_I helped tutor Kol for a decade-and-a-half…?_

“My sister asked me to keep an eye out for her. Fae magic is superior to witches – even if mine is diluted by my mortal-mother. That ought to explain how she went under the radar for so long. Any other questions?”

“She’s in Trondheim, then,” he mused, recounting on the note he was given. “What does the Fae want with her?”

“ _Was_ – she likes art, your art, particularly, or anything with landscapes,” she obliged with a chuckle. “She’s just a pawn in a much bigger scheme. In all honesty, she’s no more disposable than the next vampire, but you know the Fae have a reputation for being thorough. That, and leverage. She has a family, Klaus. She’s committed, and protective, and they have no problem holding them over her head to make sure she complies with whatever agenda they have.”

Silence rewarded her. He was contemplating. Both knew family meant everything to Caroline; it explained her complicity and radio silence to the man who believed she was once warming to the idea of forever with him.

“She hates it. She’s lonely, Klaus. She has friends but… she wants more! She wants the experience of travel and history; she hates being confined to certain cities or staying low profile at the risk she’ll be discovered and exploited for someone else’s gain or abandoning her loved ones. I don’t trust my full-fledged Fae half-sister more than you would – whatever scheme she has in mind, Caroline is just collateral damage, and as her friend, I have no problem defying my bitch of a half-sister. Caroline is loyal and I appreciate that. She has morals, too. My sister knows neither. She could care less about what happens to Caroline. I do not agree! I think Caroline deserves better and I trust her to make the right call on what she wants to do with her own future. I just want to help.”

“That’s very kind of you,” he replied darkly. “What grievance do you have with my brother?”

“That’s between me, him, and my mother.”

“ _Ah._ ”

“I want to help, Klaus, if you let me. I won’t go through your brother because, to be frank, _I don’t fucking trust him_. Really, I just don’t fucking like him and I’d rather shoot him, _again._ ”

A pause and then a deep hum followed from the other end.

“Given your transparency, I’m inclined to agree. Where should we meet?”

A chill ran up her spine. Something told her she shouldn’t trust Klaus either – he was easily spooked by suspicion – but she did make a promise to Caroline…

“Minneapolis. I can’t get you into St. Paul but it’s the closest thing to it.”

“I’d hate to impose on the council again.” The words were laced with dry humor. He wasn’t the slightest bit remorseful for his behaviors in the 20. That ought to concern her but she simply shrugged. Minneapolis granted her cover – the Minneapolis Fae weren’t as restrictive but they, like their Twin City counterpart, were vigilant about vampires – especially one as high profile as Klaus. She felt safer there than anywhere. Duluth was the next best thing but too close to home.

“Have you been there in a while?”

“Minnesota is a bit too cold for my liking.”

She grinned. “True but _have you ever tried a Juicy Lucy?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU CAN'T TRUST NO ONE - NOT ELIJAH, NOT SOLVEIG (OBVIOUSLY) 
> 
> I do intend on Klaus and Ava having tons of common ground. If she'd going to be Caroline's messenger for the time being, I want it to be a trusting relationship, and given their backstories, I think it'll be easy. He's not one to trust and she's very assertive - so when they meet in Minneapolis, it'll be lots of bumping heads, but certainly no bloodshed. 
> 
> As for Elijah, I think the way he goes about things slyly will catch him in the ass. If he's trying to erase liabilities while trying to assert himself as his brother's keeper, he's going to have his hands full. Katherine will be playing a role in keeping him at bay from Kol if - or once - the whole Fae scheme is revealed. Katherine is a force of her own and I think with Ava integrating herself temporarily until the real OGs resume their positions, Katherine is going to need to shine up her A-Game to shield Kol from the emotional turmoil to come. 
> 
> As for Caroline, THE QUEEN WILL ARRIVE! As to how... the kinks of my plan are still in development. I will say she will not be bending over for anyone anymore.


	11. Bergen, P4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Insight into Kol's Perspective as Memories Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit shorter compared to others but I am anticipating another busy week so I want to roll them out while I still have time. 
> 
> Anyways, with Ava's psyche illuminated in the last chapter, and Caroline's before that, here's Kol's!   
> Next is Katherine when she has her moment!

As he got older, Kol grew more and more confused.

He grew up happy. In his second round. He was blissfully ignorant of his first until the nightmares grew too great for him to write them off as overreactive imagination. They were too real and there was a layer of familiarity he couldn’t shake off.

By eleven, his mom began to feed him snippets of his past life to explain the questions. Caroline tried her best but those ugly emotions fed foul words through her mouth, stunning him. She wasn’t known to be vile or angry yet at his Ava was less than forthcoming about his past. She insisted he look ahead and leave it behind him _like he intended_.

That troubled him. A lot. More than he cared to admit.

Why couldn’t he remember that moment? All the memories that were fresh were from this life, give or take a few unpleasant snapshots from the other that seemed hazy in his subconscious lens. Whatever happened in the void was a memory that never stuck. He was forever condemned to not know.

He trusted Caroline’s account, and his mother’s, too. They were trustworthy people. They never gave him reason to doubt their word. His upbringing under their wing was undoubtedly better in contrast to the rare glimpses of the past he had resigned himself to. He appreciated the warm household lively with laughter and affection; the stability that came with routine and simple pleasures; valuing the commitment that came with devoted tutors and passionate coaches…

_Let him be a boy_ , his grandmother Liz advocated time and time again. His mom stood beside her in the same sentiment.

But then there was Caroline and Ava – two supernatural people who knew he was capable of much more. Caroline who insisted he continue with his pursuit of magic, just as he always desired, and Ava who encouraged him to find his medium.

Each person had their own. The Witches had their covens; The Fae had their elements. Kol was… somewhere in between. He knew his lineage granted him greater advantages but his discipline favored Ava’s style. It made him feel powerful but also isolated. No one else could connect with him. Cut off from the world yet still tethered to his beloved magic. It was a cruel irony.

There were his siblings who, despite his reservations, his curiosity prodded more and more each day. He trusted the adults in his life – they never proved him wrong – but it didn’t feel right to cut people off without his own say in the matter. He wanted to verify for himself that it was the right call. Especially if it included his past family.

What could they have done to warrant such treatment? By all means, the stories he heard implied severe estrangement and multitudes of dysfunction, but there was a break in Caroline’s ire (or his…? He suspected the rage she bridled was reminiscent of his own, a part of his soul she burdened on his behalf. A development he learned of and kept to himself).

The momentary drop of ire allowed Kol some sense of hope: his brother mourned his loss. She was there, shielding him from the corpse, and in a fit of rage, he lashed out. Hours they spent together besides the charred remains of Kol’s previous body, ruminating the despicable thoughts that came with death as Caroline herself began to weigh the venom of a werewolf’s potent bite. They both came to revelations at daybreak that settled deep in their souls – and Kol was scheming on the other side, he mused.

Caroline knew Klaus better than his mom did. At least his mom, who had been victimized by Klaus’s wrath, attempted to restraint herself early on. She didn’t want to poison his mind with unpleasant things. As for Elijah or Rebekah, they had their vices. _Didn’t they all?_ Kol mused skeptically. Why were they deemed irredeemable when Caroline hinted his mother was complicit in similar depravities? If she was willing to change for the better, what’s to say his siblings couldn’t either?

He had seen the way she clung to Liz – the way they all did; the way Kol clung to his mom. Family mattered and he had some outside their intricate little circle. Were they suffering? Did they miss him? He tried to empathize – didn’t he grieve Liz? Doesn’t the thought of losing his mom terrify him? Those feelings are natural and if Caroline says vampires have enhanced feelings, wouldn’t that suggest his family was hurting at his sudden and lengthy and seemingly irreversible absence?

He could only hope. The worst thing was that he’d be disappointed if they weren’t and find solace in his original decision, finding comfort in the new family he called his own.

Caroline wouldn’t let any harm come to him and he was certain he could hold his own now that he reconciled with his magic, stronger than ever, and stronger than most.

BREAK

Twenty some years of careful socialization did not impede Caroline’s calling to host. The holidays were her favorite time of year because of her chance to deck out the house, set the dining room table, utilize Katherine’s culinary talent, and relish in her craft to create a magical space.

Her Bergen Condo did allow space for her long desired elongated farmhouse style table under the loft. The seating would accommodate twelve and she was disappointed to know she’d likely only see half of it occupied due to the nature of their circumstance but damn it, she made a friend, and she was going to utilize it for the purpose she intended to use it for.

Garlands, deep green linen, and gold trim ran down the length of the table, each seat fitted with her mother’s fine floral china. A nod to her dearly departed mom for the sake of keeping her presence live and well within the confines of her new home during such a family-oriented time of year. Elegant white napkins tied with gold ribbons were immaculately place on each plate; clear hurricanes towered between every two seats, complimented with tea lights scattered about; both lit and flickering by the time she realized it was already five in the evening.

Place cards with hand-written names were tented above each place mat, beginning from the gold framed photo of Liz in her prime besides Caroline’s card at the head of the table.

Looking down her prized table and all its ornate decoration, she couldn’t help but smile. To her left, her mother’s glossy imaged smiled back. To her right, Katherine’s intricately laced name in bold ink rightfully declared her Caroline’s right hand woman. Further down, next to Katherine, Kol’s name. It didn’t happen often but Ava promised to attend this year. Next to Liz, whom Ava had crafted a unique bond with (given their age and professions), the Halfling had her seat reserved across from Kol – better to keep an eye on him, as Katherine would tease. _Just like old times._

It wasn’t official but yes – the dog was given a seat, too, though Caroline was firm on her ‘ _no dogs at the table’_ rule. The puppy would have to mind its manners and lay on the floor, granted a scrap or two by a very smitten Kol – ever the dog lover, like Ava.

On the other end, where cards were absent, Caroline made a place on the opposite end of the table and prepared a card for Enzo. It was formal but deservingly so. She wanted him to feel at home while he beguiled her with stories of Bonnie. He was the only link she had of the few friends she remembered back at home.

The guest bedroom was also prepared for his stay, should he opt to. He was nomadic and could leave as he please but she didn’t want him to feel put out. Despite relocating across the world, her southern hospitality was as firmly embedded in her mentality as it was when she was a mere girl. You can take the girl out of South but you can’t take the South out of the girl.

_You sure about this?_ Katherine asked with deep reservation. She had taken advantage of Caroline’s gourmet kitchen and donned a monogrammed apron to prepare her feast. Pots and cutting boards were sprawled throughout, smelling fresh with herbs and veggies. Boiling water softened a bounty of noodles. Tomatoes simmered in a nearby pan, complimented by basil and onions. A batch of fresh shrimp from the local market dethawed, anticipated a thorough sauté as Katherine heated the third burned.

_I trust him_ , Caroline declared certainly. She trusted her gut. He was genuine and the things he spoke about Bonnie were too intimate to make up. He provided photogenic proof and Caroline was stunned to see the extent of their closeness. Friends was a far cry from the actual nature between fine-aging witch (who, like Ava, scarcely showed her true age) and the charismatic vampire. _She found love_ , she thought adoringly. _Bonnie finally found someone to call her own_. Caroline had missed a lot in her absence. Her heart clenched thinking about how much had changed after her death.

That’s all she needed to say for Katherine’s voluntary complicity.

“What are you doing?” Caroline chastised, seeing a familiar figure bypass the door breezily. “Don’t you have school tomorrow? It’s a seven-hour drive! Now is not the night to be making that kind of trip! You have only so many days left!”

Nonetheless, contrary to her criticism, and ignoring the fact they had departed only hours prior, she still hugged him eagerly. Her chin rested on his shoulder and she breathed in his scent – woodsy and wet with snow. Ah – _the portal_ – no wonder he came so fast comparted to the traditional method.

“I can’t pass up a free dinner,” Kol asserted with casual freeness when he romped through the doors.

His arms squeezed her middle tightly and she felt cool lips press a chaste kiss to her temple.

They both knew the intent of his visit. He was weary of the stranger Caroline invited; even if she was deemed the protector, Kol was close second. He had different talents to compensate for his role and he was determined to prove himself capable. Kol wasn’t one to blindly trust strangers. She blamed that on the forced isolation up until he was allowed to integrate into nearby elementary – rather than fret herself with the idea his distrust stemmed from something much, much older. He had enough problems hovering over his head since his rebirth; she despised the idea he still wasn’t free from his past life.

Or maybe his protective streak was a combination of his natural personality and Caroline’s influence. He had been that way since she could remember – always opting to use himself as a shield to divide his girls and unknown faces. When it came to family, he was fierce. She was dismayed to think such sentiments may have existed in his earlier life; look where it got him. No wonder he was so fierce about them – they were all he had, she reminded herself with a pang of guilt.

“You shouldn’t have,” she murmured.

“You can’t convince me otherwise,” he said jovially, disguising his intent with an easy smile.

Caroline secretly worried because Kol’s proximity brought out a terrible protective streak within her. Control would slip and her worst fear was lashing out. Old Kol’s lingering reactivity made her think on the cautious end, erratic even for her. If he sat across her and she detected any sign of displeasure or distrust, such a thing would trigger a domino effect within her.

Then again, Kol had a keen intuition. She could interrogate just fine – reading truth from lies after quick processing – but Kol’s intuition was a residual talent from what Caroline assumed to be his earlier days. He could be disarming with his casual friendliness but his eyes told a thousand stories, darkening with suspicion if he identified the first fallacy and honing in with unnerving focus.

It was like seeing a ghost from the past when he got into those moods. She could scarcely recall him from the light-feathered kid she raised. What’s the point of burdening that part of his past within her own soul if it could resonate so easily in him at such short notice? It really made her ponder the philosophy of _Nature Vs Nurture._

Stomping his feet free of snow and discarding his boots with the rest on the near show rack, he traipsed into the brightly lit kitchen to pester his mother. Katherine huffed as he linger behind her, invading her bubble.

“You know the rules,” she prodded with a wooden spoon. “If you aren’t cooking, get out of the kitchen!” He was too big to be claiming what little space there was between stove and island. He barely budged when she elbowed him out. “Caroline!”

It was humorous to see the two banter. She was tiny compared to him and much frailer; he had a lean, muscular build typical of a hockey player despite his early retirement mid-university. Katherine had no weight to drive him out but Caroline, despite her unassuming figure, had done so plenty of times.

“Alright, alright!” he wavered, raising his hands in surrender. He tossed a loose grin during his retreat, finding his new post on the couch. He made quick friendship with a nearby magazine Caroline collected – a feature on Amsterdam, one of many cities on her wish list.

Kol got to visit more cities than she did due to his many internships, most though she was fortunate to accompany since they attended the same school and interlapped certain classes. With Katherine safely tucked away in Alta or visiting Ava in Duluth where no soul in their right mind would visit, Caroline did not feel guilty indulging in traveling – especially considering she was with Kol, whom she agreed to look after.

Amsterdam, however, was not one of them. Neither did Kol.

He could claim Berlin, Munich, and Cologne in Germany as he had interned at specialized museums of the World War Era; Caroline had helped him study Scottish landmarks and made the most of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Glasgow. She toured Stockholm in Sweden, Copenhagen in Denmark, and more impressionably, Barcelona, which she was grateful she could venture out to.

She was still disappointed she hadn’t yet carved out a piece of Italy yet or explore more of the South Americas. She relished in the warmth of Summertime Spain and adored the culture of such hospitable people who called it home. It was a far cry from the reserved nature of northerners or haughty English annoyed with tourist; Ireland was the only exception – finding it reminiscent of her hometown given the openness of the residents and their fancy for sharing stories.

She liked people. The more they shared, the more she felt reeled in. The culture of Ireland went beyond just sharing a pint – it was a hub of community were grievances were set aside and folks of all walks of life could live in the moment. Laughter and politics could coexist and live music showcased a proud history of people who never forgot but never claimed defeat. The Spanish streets full of vest and passion – the kind who lived through their food and didn’t spare any flavor when it came to sharing their dishes. Parties were abundant and people were corralled into the festivities without prejudice.

It wouldn’t have been the same if it wasn’t for Kol or the friends she made. She wanted to share those experiences beyond just memorializing them in print.

Her next city, she determined, would be somewhere in Italy or Greece. Katherine claimed Rome, even if Klaus called dibs first, but Caroline was eager to spend it with both of them – separately, of course. Cities survived multiple lifetimes and so would she.

Naples, Athens – the vibrant renaissance collective; a hub of art, culture, history, fine wine, and romance. Ocean would kiss her toes and old cobblestone roads that survived centuries would bless her sandals. She’d adorn her favorite summer dress and allow the sun to graze her shoulders. Yes, she willed. _She would do it_. _Soon,_ she earnestly wished.

She had taken to Spanish. Not fluently, not yet, but she was a point she could understand most of it. German had been tougher to grasp, even though Ava was fluent, given her grandparents raised her to speak it as her first alongside English. Caroline had pressed her to teach her, assuming it’d be easy since Ava was a diligent teacher to Kol.

That was five languages under her belt, including her then native English and now Norwegian, followed by French; Spanish and German; next, she poised, would be Italian or Gaelic. Hell, even Kol learned Gaelic – but given the nature of the texts he studies, it was a pre-requisite.

Maybe that would win her points at the pub if she could serenade a song in their native, ancestral tongue. Even Ava could recite a few – kudos to her Irish neighbors in the fifties who, like her grandparents, were proud of their ancestral roots and defiantly spoke their native tongue without fear of prejudice. The only authentic Irish people Caroline met were few, not enough to rub another language into her repertoire. A truly terrible thing, considering she herself could trace her roots the same stretch of land.

If only she could have absorbed Kol’s knowledge from his past life when she took on his dismembered soul. All she gathered was his residual anger, quick temper if she wasn’t diligent to keep it in check, and – favorably – his keen intuition. His preserved memory was suppressed but still tingled when an old face neared, alerting her to possible threats.

“Be on your best behavior,” she warned lightly with an accusing finger.

“And use your manners,” Katherine steered, nudging his feet off the kitchen table. She offered a fork full of samples. “Try this, sous chef.”

Kol obliged and ruminated his response. “More salt,” he coached with an approving thumb. “Fantastic as always, Mom!”

BREAK

Caroline and his mom were dressed to the dimes, as Ava would say. She always recycled some outdated phrase.

Kol didn’t know the bloke. Caroline met him spontaneously and now he was getting a dinner invite. He wasn’t sure why he felt apprehensive about it. He knew he wanted to be in attendance to gauge this Enzo guy himself. He didn’t care if Caroline could defend herself; Kol was the only man in the house and he was more than equipped to handle some vampire.

Call him old fashioned but he wanted to do his part in their little household.

If he didn’t know any better, he would assume Caroline was dressed for a date. That didn’t sit well with him either. Caroline was a “ _big girl_ ” as she’d say but Kol couldn’t help it. He felt like she deserved better than some random guy. No, he knew she deserved better.

Just like how he despised his mom being hit on by his coaches. Not on his watch.

He wondered if he had bias. For the longest time he heard stories of his brother being sweet on Caroline; a flicker of a scene at a bar – a blonde in a black dress, nothing like the green one she wore now – and banter exchanged. Something about a torn liver, an empty threat, followed by a vacant seat as his curly haired companion – his brother, no doubt – gave chase. A ballroom of grandeur and his brother nowhere to be seen, neither a blonde with a dedicant blue gown.

That was a more pleasant memory his glimpsed compared to others.

He didn’t tell anyone he was recalling more and more in his adolescence. He knew Caroline got riled when he did; the fret in his mother’s eyes didn’t settle well in his stomach. He was keeping that and his endeavors to himself. He so desperately wanted to recall that deal in the void Caroline and Katherine could recollect so vividly.

He could. Just like how he could watch afar after he convinced Ava to teach him the art of Spirit Walking or Skinwalking – both of which she was abhorrently against. It was too advanced for him at eleven but at sixteen, he could test the waters of be able to transcend his physical body and project it onto something or somewhere else. To say his teacher was pleased with his quick study was a far cry; she strongly disapproved of him pushing the barriers into dangerous waters.

Just like element manipulation. Remember your place in the world, she sternly implicated with a hold on his shoulder. The rough waters of Superior beat against the glacier aged rock, bending trees against its whims as hurricane winds prompted him to cover his eyes with a lifted arm.

_What are the lights for?_ He asked innocently when it noted the lanterns were raised in far off windows.

_Gales like this stir up old ghosts_ , she advised with sorrowful eyes.

It made Kol wonder with visible surprise that perhaps she was not being metaphorical. The lanterns were dated; nothing like a brightly lit window he had grown accustomed to when surveying the grand, newer constructions alongside the rocky shore. The older, humbler ones spied between the trees hosted the flickering lights; ones that looked like Ava’s tucked away cabin.

One of Ava’s uncle was an engineer on a freighter like the ones he saw far out earlier that day. Large, seven-hundred-foot odd looking contraptions cruising through icy waters fascinated him. For Ava, it stirred bittersweet memories. Her uncle was spared from the 1975 storm due to his retirement years prior; but he was one of many mariners who faced the risk of dangerous inland seas on a daily basis. The _Edmund Fitzgerald_ was a common name in those parts of town; it was one of many ships wrecked. Her watery backyard was a large, deep graveyard and she credited it as such every opportunity she could to instill in him the dangers of underestimated its currents.

_Like repeating the past, some people can’t forget. These waters will never let you. That’s why you must respect them_ , she pressed heavily. _If you don’t, they’ll make an example out of you; even a seasoned sailor knows they can’t tame these waves._

Kol thought deeper into her words. There was symbolism in them. If the water represented the past, preserving it, stirring it back up, then it could be a proper medium for his own morbid curiosity. If he could channel the water to provide clarity, he wouldn’t have to burden Caroline or his mom with divulging the truth. He’d risk Ava’s disapproving lecture to do so.

The waters of Lake Superior were cold to the bone. That body of water was known to be so frosty that bodies were preserved in crystals within its depths; corpses over a century old still drifted in the metal walls of their last season run. Shipwrecks barred from divers due to community outrage – treating the area as a sacred graveyard, as it should. Purified waters of sacred sentiment – no wonder the Fae treasured it.

He felt trepidation as he waded through the shores the morning after, debris scattered about from the rushing waves. The twilight hours seared his toes with a tingling chill while the gradient rocks prodded into his soles with an unsettling slimy, cold.

_“You’ll catch a cold!”_ Caroline condemned disagreeably. She yanked him back with ease. “ _Are you trying to kill yourself? That’s a good way to do it!_ ”

She was panicked when she pried him back to the safety of Ava’s cabin; she had exhibited the same concern when he teetered too close to steep rocky hillsides or plummeting cliffs – all too knowing Pukwudgies lurking were the least of her worries. A fall twenty feet into rocky foundation and uprooted trees would surely end Kol’s life prematurely. A current of air to blanket a blow was not yet a talent he had learned from Ava – nor would it work given the densely forestry.

How many times has Ava shaken into him, and in turn, Caroline and his mom, too, the dangers of Lake Superior? The hypothermic waters; the deadly riptides; unseen debris ensnared with the rocky foundation; sharp slates of ice in hidden sight – reckless factors he thought he would avoid in pursuit of the past.

The North Sea wasn’t as tumultuous by the boat docks as it was on the unbridled shore miles out. Ava had her Lake Superior; He had his North Sea.

He was grateful for his independence. How easy he could stray to the dark, cold waters of the ocean without Caroline’s cautious eyes steering him away from possible danger. The cold did not scare him as much as it ought to. The tundra like waters stung his flesh and he felt himself tremor with each step, deeper and deeper until the water lapped under his chin. The coasting boats parked in the marina docks not too far from his eyes served as buoys for his psyche.

_Water is just a current – tying the past, present, and the future together in an unending flow._ He remembered the way Ava explained it, looking over the vast Superior Lake respectively. _If you submersed yourself in it just enough, then you’ll lose yourself in its unyielding power. That takes a lot of trust. After the shock, then comes acceptance, and after that, whatever you subconscious wants you to hear._

He was older then. Bold and seventeen. It was summertime and the shoreline was less mangled with debris or ravaged by turbulent waves. The water was so calm, so cold, and so clear that hundreds of feet out, where depths could swallow a freighter vertically, the water would be so transparent one would think they could reach under the surface and touch the tip of the buried craft.

She was going against everyone’s wishes, including her own. She wanted to indulge Kol. She swore him to secrecy.

_I was ignorant of my past, too._ She confided. _I was the strange bastard with no father. I did my best to integrate with my mother’s world but I had no place. That was glaringly evident. The only time I felt peace was when I let myself retreat to the bay. The cold never bothered me like it would you or your mother or anyone bound by mortal flesh. However, you have an advantage like I do. The elements are your friend if you give them the reverence they deserve. They will hold your secrets, heal your soul, or clarify the questions you may have. This is a lesson off script. You’re going to need it as you begin to entangle your current life with unwanted memories from your forgotten one. That kind of trauma doesn’t go away – it’ll come back until you confront it. I’d rather you do that than confront the cause of it. So, let’s begin – feet in, kid._

His ears popped when he dipped under the gentle waves. The bitter cold bit at his nose, his cheeks, anything it could nip, but he strived to ignore the battering and listen to the vast echo that came with the depth.

It was the coldest in the early morning hours. Twilight had not yet peaked.

This was different from _Spirit Walking_ , or Astral Projection. That was outward projection. He needed to reflect inwards. The only way he could do that if his body was subjected to the mercy of a stronger elements. Just the way Ava explained it as she guided his rigid body further into the bay; he tremored, instinctively pulling back, but he proved to be mentally strong. By twenty-five, he willed himself in without much fight – just slow, deliberate steps.

Water was neither’s dominant element but it was a soothing one.

Ava’s was wind. Kol believed his to be fire. Yet both had a healthy respect for water. For his teacher, it only amplified her strength, but for Kol, it nullified it. Water was his weakness, or rather weak point as he could still conjure its advantages (just with more difficult than with his dominant element). When he voluntarily rendered himself weak and disarmed, he found himself able to pry into the past with more clarity than before.

_You were a child revived from death in darkness, of course you’d seek out the warmth and light_ , Ava philosophized. Ironic, considering how he died. _The Phoenix Theory,_ Ava pointed. _So long you keep the fire within you, you’ll find a way to persist._

To return to his past, he’d have to submerge himself into the blinding depths of icy waters. _A State of Regression_ , he categorized. His entire system shook with shock but he bit back the burning chill. _Breathe_ , he reminded as he pressed ahead. The pressure wrapped around his head and he fought every fiber of his being to keep under.

The frigid waters conjured harsh echoes. Everything was tying into place. Previous attempts allowed him to unlock the first and second stone; that was all it took to pry apart the veil obstructing his past.

_Jealousy._ He recalled the bile emotion with unsettling familiarity. Caroline looked younger, haggard, and distraught as she lingered in the greyscale tree line. Her eyes casted a far-off look – the thousand-year stare – and her lost expression enraged him. Not him – but something within him; his past self – a body foreign but not really.

_Why her?_ He had thought ounce in a state fueled with putrid emotions. Anger over feeling abandoned; bitterness he had been thrown across the veil with no way back; disbelief gave way to something else – defeat. The utter damning weight on his shoulders was inescapable while the rest of his tendons were tense; his fist clutched to his side as if waiting to strike for one last fight. He would not go silently or willingly.

_The tasty little thing_ – foreign, subjective words that he himself would never cast about the blonde he grew so fond of. Back then, he felt nothing of the sort; just raw disdain for ‘a creature’ whom his brother cast so highly of, more so than his own kin.

_Peak karma – your little friend betrayed you! See how your loyalty is repaid?_ He wanted to jest. Yet, words did not spill from his mouth. A slight moment of regret – after all, she did have the decency to cloth his corpse and suffer his brother’s brooding tantrum for the remainder of that night. _Yet,_ he was content to see she was no exempt from favoritism. She was burned, too. Her so called friend condemned her. _Justice was served, even if only just a morsel_.

And speaking of treats – Elijah’s was lurking, too. He respected her more highly than the blonde – at least she had the wit and spite to torment his brother; refusing to bend to his wishes and throw a wrench in all his plans. Truly, someone to oppose Elijah eye for eye, and for that alone, Kol was tempted to offer a nod.

Caroline was just a tease. Someone who knew how to beguile his brother for the time being; it wouldn’t last, surely…? Pretty things came and went; Nik made a habit of that. The chase was a short-lived pleasure he tired of quickly.

Katerina however… lucky thing. She didn’t die by his hands. After all this time, she still evaded his final gratification. He’d have to gloat over her corpse but the bitterness that her death was not his doing would eat away at his pride. Katerina ran for centuries; she didn’t die on her own terms – in fact, that pesky doppelganger damned each and every single one of them.

The single link – the wench.

A solution came in the form of a four-foot gremlin with glowing green eyes. Of course, those little devils could defy the rules imposed by ancient witch magic. He rarely crossed any and for good reason – they were known to spite and even he would not survive the wrath of one. How fortunate he had the good sense to intervene centuries ago when he came across a barricaded Fae, subjected to a hellish ordeal by an ambitious druid. Good ridden to the druid; then the Fae scattered off, not sparing even so much a show of gratitude.

Until now.

_Reincarnation. A fresh start. Untethered to the past._

_I want them with me,_ he declared unwaveringly. Shock and suspicion clouded their expressions. Caroline was growing to prove him wrong – she may be sharper than just a pretty face. She knew he had an ulterior motive. Katerina expected as much from the likes of him – he came from the same loins as Elijah and Nik; why wouldn’t he differ?

She was a human now. Her purpose would be short but arguably the most important. She would be the vessel to deliver him to his next chapter. She’d be under a short leash under such supervision. No way she’d manipulate a newly infant Kol to return to her brothers’ good graces; he was sure of it. Kol was one force; the Fae were another altogether.

But Caroline…

_The blonde has no purpose._

_Yes, she does,_ Kol schemed. She was one last jab to his brother. He wouldn’t be so transparent with his motive. She had the integrity to decline the offer if she heard it aloud. Not to say she didn’t suspect it as he schemed; he wouldn’t validate any doubt she had. _I trust her to protect me._ Protect me like she protected her meek little friends. Her loyalty wasn’t paid then; at least he would deliver on his end. A sad state of affairs of someone of his end would be more reliable than her ragtag set of friends. _Katerina will be human; I will be a mere child. I need someone of her capabilities to ensure I do not fall into the wrong hands._

This set Caroline aback.

_I’m just a baby vampire!_ She decreed in objection.

_No, you will not, should you agree. He promised to relinquish his advantage of aged vampirism to compensate for your lack of prowess._ The Fae supplied in his favor. Fae could enable such tricks with magic he would not fathom. They were the equivalent of the Free Masons in the magic world – too exclusive even for the likes of Merlin.

Caroline was flabbergasted. Katerina clung to her, still weary of Kol. As she should. He was only using them. He had no intentions to make attachments. He had done it before with blood and he was given no reciprocation. He was tired of the strife attached to something as frivolous as ‘family’.

_Should you disown that part of you, someone else must inherit it…_

_The power…?_

_The memories._ The Fae said decisively to Katerina’s probing. _Every vile memory is now your burden._

To her credit, Caroline obliged with a stiff nod. Not like she hasn’t suffered worse ordeals. Power could be intoxicating. He didn’t care much for the bloodshed or strength that came with the monster he was known to be. It was a destiny forced upon him. He wanted his magic back at any cost.

This would be his victory! Rid of his brothers’ control. Bonded with his beloved magic. Leaving his last mark in a spiteful note: reviving one brother’s nemesis, letting her live out of his reach; claiming her as his own, superseding any Elijah could make; then, finally, sweet little Caroline was his – forever bound to serve him; swearing her loyalty – the coveted loyalty Klaus yearned for – to Kol and Kol only.

A smirk fixed itself on his face – he could bide his time. He bid a thousand before. His youth would pass and he’d become something else – a stronger warlock that he believed himself rightfully to be. He’d spite his overbearing brothers one last time while they grapple for some ground to absolve their guilt in his passing. Katerina free and bonded to him; Caroline indentured to him. Elijah and Nik spat over one girl before, bitterly so, and at the end of the millennium, Kol made haste with both their fixations right under their nose.

He sputtered above the surface.

That wasn’t him. That Kol in the woods, watching over the huddled woman with nothing but malice – that wasn’t him!

No wonder he was so keen to forget. He couldn’t fathom that would be him. He never knew such foul feelings before. Caroline was kindhearted, diligent, and everything an aunt ought to be. His mom – Katherine? _Not_ Katerina? – she was gentle and affectionate! He had nothing but love for those women. No wonder his brothers were so keen on them. Why would he use them for spite?

What had he done? Why would he punish them? If he had qualms with his brothers, why would be pawn innocent bystanders to carry out his cause? Surely the love they shared was genuine; its validity was not questioned. Kol was certain of that. However, he was terrified that their family was soiled by something terrible. Something he schemed. They didn’t think of him like that… No, his mother loved him; Caroline was fiercely protective of him.

They laughed together. Family dinners were a sacred ritual. Celebrating on the stands when he made a goal. Teaching him the fundamentals to the advanced when it came to his education with willful enthusiasm. Shared jokes and unprovoked hugs.

Old Kol was resentment and wanted them hostage for a gripe. New Kol wanted nothing but to keep them sake. How the tables have turned. A family he wanted rid of, with no expectation of a substitute, was suddenly nullified by a genuine one he happily called his own. How dare he defile the present with something so crude and supposedly abandoned in the long-forgotten past! Why was he so determined to unravel all the progress he made with such terrible things meant to be buried?

No doubt, Caroline was right – he resented his family. To the extent she suggested wasn’t far off. He blamed them for a lot – including his death – a death he visibly recalled with Caroline close behind. He wanted Nik to suffer. He wanted to take away something – someone – he held dear. He knew his weakness and he snatched it. Exploited it for his own gain.

Katerina was a convenient addition. A surrogate for him that became his authentic mother. Someone who didn’t take away his magic. Someone who let him be his own person with no prejudice. He knew she wanted more children. She thrived as a maternal figure. It was a mutual gift they became to each other.

How Caroline didn’t resent Kol was beyond him. Yet, he was thankful she welcomed him with open arms each time they reunited. She didn’t hold grudges expect the ones he bestowed upon her when she agreed to the transition. He would hate himself for sabotaging her good nature. If he could, he’d extinguishing it altogether, so she could live and love as freely as he knew she would. To do so was not something he knew how to yet. When he did figure it out, there would be no hesitation.

BREAK

In the present, as she dolled herself up and prepared for their guest, he swallowed back guilt. Maybe he hated his brother but even then, his disdain did not ruin her. She charged ahead. There was hope. The fondness she had for Nik – or Klaus, however she phrased – that was a testament something authentic was brewing between the two before death cut their journey short. The fact Nik looked for her beyond the veil was another piece of evidence Kol sabotaged something he shouldn’t have in a heated moment of weakness.

Make no mistake – Kol was quite protective of Caroline – but not enough to deprive her of her choice. He trusted her gut. He wanted her to strive for more. If she believe Nik capable of love and she herself willing to extend forgiveness, Kol wouldn’t jeopardize her future. Not like he had behind the veil. He would be a better person and his actions would prove it.

If she was willing to sacrifice all those years to see him grow, make good on her promise, then he was going to pay her back for all the struggle and loss. He needed to prove to her he was better than that – she raised him to be better than the man who put her up to the conditions in the first place. 

He’d give Klaus the benefit of the doubt. That was Caroline’s call to make. Kol may have sprouted doubts from his own reemerging memories but he would not force Caroline’s hand. Klaus would have to convince her and maybe in time, convince Kol, too, even if the warlock had already carved out a path for himself independent of his siblings. Elijah and Nik were one thing; Rebekah was another.

All through the memories he rekindled, their bond was the strongest. He pitied her. She could never escape them. She gripped onto the fragile fabrics of family, determined to keep it together because there was nothing else. She wanted something that was severely damaged but she had hoped and fought with every fiber of her being to keep it intact. Kol wanted that – he wanted to patch up the unraveling threads between him and his sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kol did a full 180 and I'm so proud - though it'll be hard for him to juggling his past and present, and mesh those two identities together. Ah, conflict - don't we just love it? 
> 
> So much potential for reunion with his siblings - especially Rebekah who will make an appearance soon! That will be a whole different trial :) 
> 
> Enjoy!


End file.
